Comments on: Caxton's Canterbury Tales

Caxton's Canterbury Tales

liam — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 18:27:32 -0800

Early eBook designs. William Caxton's first two editions of The Canterbury Tales, probably published in 1476 and 1483, have been put online by the British Library.

By: Utilitaritron

Utilitaritron — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 18:53:22 -0800

I could be grossly ignorant, but it seems like the British Library has a lot of great stuff on the web, while I don't remember hearing of anything from the Library of Congress. Again, I haven't exactly been looking, and I could have just missed everything from the LoC ... but that's the feeling I get. (Feel free to prove me wrong.)

By: anathema

anathema — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 19:09:15 -0800

You say "grossly ignorant" like it's a bad thing! Here is a selection of previous MeFi LoC posts. Not a horrible starting point.

By: rudyfink

rudyfink — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 19:09:25 -0800

Also notable and surprising in that Chaucer's descendants have not sued over rights control.

By: liam

liam — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 19:13:04 -0800

The Library of Congress does have a lot of excellent stuff online, much of it linked to in MetaFilter over the years.

By: anathema

anathema — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 19:14:46 -0800

There was no "copyright" when these were first published. The Statute of Anne didn't even come into being until 1710. Rights control is not an issue.

By: Utilitaritron

Utilitaritron — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 19:37:09 -0800

Not at all. Thanks.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 20:04:00 -0800

I love Chaucer...I seem to reread Canterbury Tales every couple of years. I love the fact that you can zoom this these images out to a readable size. Thanks for the find!

By: thomas j wise

thomas j wise — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 20:32:14 -0800

The British Library has all sorts of interesting online exhibits, definitely. For more Chaucer images, facsimiles, etc., see the links at Luminarium.

By: Zurishaddai

Zurishaddai — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 20:35:10 -0800

And out his arse he putteth privily Over the buttock, to the haunche bone. And therewith spoke this clerk, this Absalon: "Speak, sweet heart. I wot not where thou art." This Nicholas anon let fly a fart As great as it had been a thunder dint That with that stroke he was almost y-blint.

By: rudyfink

rudyfink — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 20:39:00 -0800

Yes, I know. It was a joke. Apparently, I should have used a blink tag or something.

By: anathema

anathema — Thu, 30 Oct 2003 06:26:44 -0800

Yeah, I should have figured.