Details

Subject(s)

• Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages—England—Canterbury—Poetry [Browse]
• English poetry—Middle English, 1100-1500 [Browse]
• Manuscripts, English (Middle)—New Jersey—Princeton [Browse]

Bookseller

• Witten, Laurence C [Browse]

Related name

• Princeton University. Library. Manuscript. Princeton MS. 100 [Browse]

Notes

• Script: Anglicana, with some Secretary features; presumably written by the so-called Beryn Scribe.
• Decoration: Rubrication for incipits and explicits. Rubricated running titles are preceded by blue paraphs; 3-line blue initials; beginnings of tales have 3-line blue initials with red penwork; running titles.

Binding note

England, 15th century. Sewn on five alum-tawed double thongs laced into cushioned quarter-sawn oak boards (10 mm thick) through five channels.

Provenance

Princeton MS. 100 is one of approximately 84 extant manuscripts of The Canterbury tales. The manuscript was in the library of the Tollemache family of Helmingham Hall, Suffolk, from the 16th century, if not earlier. The Princeton University Library purchased the manuscript from the antiquarian bookseller Laurence C. Witten (1926-1995), of New Haven, Connecticut, in February 1963, chiefly with funds provided by Robert H. Taylor (1908-1985), Class of 1930, and Christian A. Zabriskie (d. 1970), New York City, with additional support from Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., Kenneth H. Rockey, Class of 1916, and Ernest C. Savage, all of whom were members of the Friends of the Princeton University Library.

Source acquisition

Gift of Robert H. Taylor.

References

Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, volume 2, pages 317-321.

Cite as

Princeton MS. 100, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Other format(s)

Also available in an electronic version.