Manuscript Description London, British Library MS Sloane 1685 | |
MS Appellation: | Sl1 (Manly and Rickert) |
Title: | Canterbury Tales |
Author: | Chaucer |
Contents: | Canterbury Tales |
Language: | English |
Date Range: | 1425-1450 |
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. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Dialect: | Staffs |
Material: | Parchment |
No of Folios: | 1-223 |
Pagination: | Old foliation in red ink. |
Quiring: | 8's. One quire lost at the beginning. 1(7 i missing), 2 (7 vii missing), 3(7 i missing), 4-8(8), 9(6 ii and iii missing), 10(8), 11(7 vi missing), 12-15(8), 16(7 vi missing), 17(6 iv and viii missing), 18(8), 19(7 iii missing), 20-29(8). Some missing leaves have been replaced but are not included in the foliation. |
Signatures: | Some signatures eg 'e' in the fifth quire. |
Catchwords: | Some catchwords in text ink, others in red ink. |
Page Size: | 305 x 205 |
Frame: | Brown ink frame 2 x vertical 4 x horizontal with ruling within. Pricking still visible. |
Writing Space: | 200 x 125 |
Incipits and Explicits: | In Latin and English and preceded by blue paraphs with red flourishing. |
Marginal Headings: | In Wife of Bath's Tale and Monk's Tale marginal glosses in red ink also preceded by blue paraphs flourished with red. |
Running Titles: | Red titles preceded by blue paraphs flourished with red ink on both rectos and versos. Running titles for Gamelyn in dark ink. |
Illuminated Initials: | 4-6-line gold initials on ground of blue and pinkwith champe decoration to begin tales. |
Paragraph Marks: | Blue with red flourishing. |
Flourished Initials: | 2-4-line blue initials flourished with red mark other textual divisions. |
Other Names (not owners): | There are many other names in the manuscript and Manly and Rickert provide a convincing exploration of their connections from the time of T Neuill. When in Sloane's ownership, the manuscript was lent to Urry (f223). |
Further Information: | Manly and Rickert I: 504-509. Seymour II: 143-146. |