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14. The Workes of Our Ancient and learned English poet, Geffrey Chaucer (London, 1602).
This beautiful, black-letter folio edition compared the medieval English poet Chaucer to the great poets of the ancient world and the great poet of the Italian vernacular, Petrarch. As the editor Thomas Speght (d.1621) commented, ‘It were a labor worth commendation, if some scholler, that hath skill and leisure, would confer Chaucer with those learned Authors, both in Greek and Latin, from whom he hath drawn many excellent things.’
That Stoker consulted two panegyrics to Chaucer in Marsh’s Library (see item 10) must be significant, especially as at the time of his death he owned a 1687 and a 1721 edition of the great poet’s Works.
The page on display is from the start of ‘The Knight’s Tale’.
Citation:
14. The Workes of Our Ancient and learned English poet, Geffrey Chaucer (London, 1602).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
accessed May 7, 2024,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/items/show/503