Beschreibung:

CHAUCER, Geoffrey (c.1343-1400). The Workes of Our Ancient and Learned English Poet, Geffrey Chaucer, Newly Printed . London: Adam Islip, 1602. The second Speght edition, which helped establish Chaucer in the canon of English literature. "This edition ... is the earliest in which thorough punctuation was attempted, and in many other ways it is a distinct improvement upon Speght's first edition” (Pforzheimer). With the addition of a glossary, sources list, and new biography of the poet, this work shaped the reading of Chaucer for the next several centuries. “Speght’s Chaucer is inescapably a Renaissance Chaucer ... it is Speght who not only furthered the identification of Chaucer with a collected oeuvre, but also first applied the critical apparatus of humanist editions to a Middle English writer” (Machan). Pforzheimer 178; STC (2nd ed.), 5080; see Machan, “Speght’s Works and the Invention of Chaucer,” 1996. Folio (330 x 221mm). Engraved frontispiece signed by John Speed, woodcut title border, section title with woodcut arms, smaller armorial shield, woodcut illustration of a knight, with final errata leaf (frontispiece trimmed and mounted on new paper, with repaired tear affecting one shield; occasional small repairs, 2 affecting text; light worming, light marginal dampstaining). Modern leather to style (boards scuffed at edges, front board starting). Provenance : some early marginalia.