The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, in the Original, from the Most Authentic Manuscripts; and As They Are Turn'd into Modern Language by Several Eminent Hand Geoffrey Chaucer

Publisher Marketing: The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++Harvard University LibrariesN026579A reissue of the edition of 1737, with a cancel titlepage. Containing the Prologue and the Knight's tale only. Edited by Thomas Morell. London: printed for J. Osborn, 1740. xxxvi,452p., plate: port.; 8 Contributor Bio:  Chaucer, Geoffrey Thought to have been born in London, England, circa 1342 or 1343, Geoffrey Chaucer is considered "the first finder of our language" even before the time of Shakespeare. The Canterbury Tales ranks as one of the greatest poetic works in the English language. Perhaps the chief characteristics of Chaucer's works are their variety in subject matter, genre, tone, style, and in the complexities presented concerning man's pursuit of a sensible existence. Yet his writings also consistently reflect an all-pervasive humor, combined with serious and tolerant consideration of important philosophical questions. From his writings Chaucer emerges as a poet of love, both earthly and divine. His stories lead the listener to speculate about man's relationship both to other people and to his Maker, while simultaneously providing entertaining views of the frailties and follies, as well as the nobility, of mankind.