English MS 63
Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales Fragment, second half of 15th century
Size: 272 x 195 mm. iv + 2 + iv folios.
A two-leaf fragment of a later fifteenth-century manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It contains a fine 19-line pen-and-ink drawing of the Miller on horseback, and a 6-line initial W in blue, pink, green and black with white penwork and floral infill on a burnished gold ground, with elaborate foliate border extensions.
This fragment forms part of the 'Oxford Manuscript' of the Canterbury Tales, along with Manuscript 1084/2 in the Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia, which comprises eleven leaves.
Former owners include George Mason (1735-1806), writer and book collector; and George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834).
Related links
- Catalogue entry for English MS 63
- Conservation report
