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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.
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Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms.
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Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms.
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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.
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP