Manuscript Description London, British Library MS Additional 25718 | |
MS Appellation: | Ad2 (Manly and Rickert) |
Title: | Canterbury Tales |
Author: | Chaucer |
Contents: | Parts of about ten of the Canterbury Tales survive. |
Language: | English |
Date Range: | 1400-1425 |
Scribal Hands: | Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Material: | Parchment |
No of Folios: | iv paper flyleaves + 88 vellum + iv paper flyleaves (however, this represents three fragments from an original single manuscript). |
Pagination: | Three originally discontinuous fragments now numbered 1-40, 41-47, 48-88. |
Quiring: | Originally in 8's. Many folios missing and some fragments which are now isolated. |
Signatures: | Between ff41-44, presumably the first half of an original quire, it is possible to see j-iiij in the bottom right corner of the folios. |
Catchwords: | Some original catchwords n ff. 22, 30 and 38. Others appear to have been removed, whereas some seem to have been added at a later date perhaps on rebinding. |
Page Size: | Varies; some folios have modern parchment additions. |
Writing Space: | Also variable. |
Incipits and Explicits: | Explicit to 'Physykes tale' on f52r. The incipit for Shipman's Tale follows although the text is of the Physician-Pardoner Link. See Manly and Rickert for suggestion that this may be evidence for two separate fragments. |
Running Titles: | In the ink of the text and preceded by red paraphs. |
Paragraph Marks: | Red and blue |
Flourished Initials: | Blue flourished with red ink to indicate divisions in the text. |
Other Names (not owners): | On f1r is 'Dorthe Borothe'. |
Miscellaneous Info: | Scribe 1's hand is similar to the hand of the fragment Plimpton 253. |
Further Information: | Manly and Rickert, Vol. I, 34-40; McCormick, 9-12; Seymour Vol. II, 98-103. |