Canterbury Tales (2nd): London, The British Library, IB. 55095
Summary:
Physical Description:
Object Description:
Form: Codex
Material: Paper (stocks 112-116, 191-125.)
Size: 274 mm x 190 mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)
Collation:
- Imperfect; wanting leaves a-l, leaves m1,
4, 5, n4, 5, 8, and quires p, q, E, I and L. (BMC XI, 133)
Condition:
Leaves aa1 and dd6 are mutilated. Leaf m8 has been misbound, verso uppermost, before m6, G8 is bound after H8. (BMC XI, 133)
Rubrication and decorated initials:
- Number of hands: ?
- Summary:
- Hand: paraphs
Hand decoration:
None?
Additions:
- An early manuscript foliation, of which a few
traces still remain after cropping, must have been added while the copy
was still in the original order (e.g. bb1 = clxvi, C6 = ccxlix, F2 =
cclxix, K3 = cccij), but by the time that Sloane acquired the book it
was bound in the order A1 (the ‘Tale of Chaucer’) - K8, followed by m2 -
ii6, as may be seen from the lists of contents in Sloane’s hand on the
verso of the front fly-leaf. (BMC XI, 133)
Binding Description:
Bound in 18th-century sprinkled calf with the Museum Britannicum monogram on the spine. (BMC XI, 133)
Accompanying Material:
History:
- Provenance:
- John Bagford, 1704.
- Sir Hans Sloane, 1704-1753.
- Acquisition:
Sloane’s autograph press-mark ‘H.36’ is written on the recto of the front fly-leaf and two former Museum press-marks ‘8 Ni’ and ‘3 Gk’ appear on A1a. The contents have now been restored to the original order. (BMC XI, 133)
Image Gallery:
Works referred:
- BMC XI,
133
Administration Information:
Images are supplied by Lotte Hellinga and scanned by CB and JT (2014).
Information quoted from BMC XI with kind permission by the editor.
Ed. by ST, LM and TK (2014/15)