HRC 143 Cardigan Chaucer manuscript (Manly and Rickert Cn). England: circa 1450. 308 leaves: parchment, 295 x 215 mm. Written in Middle English, Anglicana script. Contents include: 1. fol. 1-244: Chaucer, Geoffrey (d. 1400), Canterbury Tales; 2. fol. 244-245: Brut Chronicle to 1449; 3. fol. 246-304: Lydgate, John (1370?-1451?), Siege of Thebes; 4. fol. 304-308: Lydgate, John (1370?-1451?), Churl and Bird. Binding: Bound in brown tanned goatskin (morocco) over paper boards by Eyre & Spottiswoode, 19th or 20th century; gold and blind-tooled borders on covers and spine panels. Provenance: Mantell family of Horton, near Canterbury (16th century); Brudenell family of Deene Park, Northamptonshire, Earls of Cardigan from the early 17th century; the manuscript was probably owned by the Brudenells from before 1600 until it was stolen in 1919 and sold to Maggs of London, who sold it to Gabriel Wells of New York, and it was purchased by Vassar College; Vassar College returned the manuscript to the Brudenell family in the 1920s; sold at Sotheby's, London on 23 February 1959, lot 209, to New York bookseller H. P. Kraus who sold it to the Ransom Center. Bibliography: A. S. G. Edwards, "The Case of the Stolen Chaucer Manuscript," The Book Collector 23:3 (1972): 380-385. John M. Manly and Edith Rickert, The Text of the Canterbury Tales, 1940, vol. 1, pp. 71-78. Daniel W. Mosser, "Cardigan Chaucer: A Witness to the Manuscript and Textual History of the Canterbury Tales," Library Chronicle N.S. no.41 (1987): 82-111. See also: For other Chaucer manuscripts, see HRC 46 and q PR 1850 1532 cop. 1. Use: Restricted from reading room and classroom use due to condition; curatorial approval required. Facsimiles: Complete digital facsimile available. Information folder: Yes
