Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/242

 198

NOTES AND QUERIES, [lo* s.m. MARCH 11,1905.

of the most spirited and progressive of English institutions. That a task such as has been wrought was desirable has long been felt. He was a sanguine man, however, who anticipated its accomplish- ment. Only within recent years has such a thing come within the compass of a dream. An interest- ing brochure might be written upon the attempts that have been made to reproduce in facsimile the masterpieces of the great printers. (Speaking off- hand, and without the necessary investigations, we are disposed to describe the facsimile of the famous Giunta edition of 1527 of the ' Decamerone,' executed, so far as we recall, at the charge of an English nobleman in 1729, as the earliest that was not a palpable forgery. This, which was de- scribed by bibliographers as a counterfeit, rather than a facsimile, and was, it is said, sometimes sold for the original, is at least the earliest reproduction in date of which we could boast possession. Since that time facsimiles have sprung into such vogue that there will be no cause for surprise if all the greatest products of human intellect and all the masterpieces of the printer's art are within no very long space placed within reach of the bibliophile. The Chaucer now issued has its own claims upon pre-eminence. As an authority upon readings and upon authorship it puts in no very strong preten- sions. As is abundantly shown by Prof. Skeat, in the introduction and elsewhere, a good many of the works included are not by Chaucer at all. This difficulty is met by calling the book in the pre- liminary title-page ' The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer and Others.' Then, again, in the case of some of the works, including ' The Canterbury Tales,' the text is far from ideal. In spite of these and other drawbacks the task is one of the most creditable ever accomplished, and the book is one of the most desirable ever brought within reach of the col- lector or the student. It is, in the first place, the first edition of the complete works of the founder of English poetry, and that on which the sub- sequent folio editions are based. It is, moreover, a genuine rarity, immeasurably more scarce than the first edition of Shakespeare, which, in what- ever regard it may be held, is anything rather than an uncommon work, in the case of the most important writings of Chaucer we are not, as in that of Shakespeare, dependent upon any single text. Early MSS. of Chaucer are accessible, and on their readings scholars such as Prof. Skeat depend. In spite of the labours of this most ex- emplary and brilliant of editors, and in spite of the exertions of a Chaucer Society, it may be doubted whether the bibliography of Chaucer is yet com- plete. What is supplied herein, or in the six- volume edition of the works by Prof. Skeat, is the best and most comprehensive, and answers almost every purpose. A bibliography precisely such in extent and kind as is supplied of some French writers is even yet desirable. It is only in days quite recent that men have become aware of the value of early folio Chaucers, and so late as the middle of the last century an imperfect copy of the 1532 volume has been sold for a nominal sum. We have personally known the same thing happen with regard to an imperfect 'Canterbury Tales' of the fifteenth century. With its interesting title-page, the border of which is repeated at the head of ' The Canterbury Tales,' ' The Romaunt of the Rose,' 'Troylus & Creseyde,' &c., its colophon, and its rude woodcuts, the book is, from the standpoint of the book-lover, immeasurably more attractive than

the 1623 Shakespeare. Attention is drawn to the fact that the volume, the only book with a date printed by Thomas Godfray, is exactly a century earlier in appearance than the Second Folio of Shakespeare. It is reprinted from the copy in the British Museum, which is apparently perfect in all respects. A feature in the reprint with which we are unfamiliar in other cases is that the facsimile of each original page is, as it were, mounted on paper fresher in colour, supplying a greatly enlarged margin, on which pagination and numera- tion of lines are conducted. This course naturally facilitates enormously the task of reference. The collected edition of Chaucer's works formed by William Thynne, Chief Clerk of the Kitchen to Henry VIII., and first printed in 1532, contains about forty pieces, twenty-two of which are given for the first time. Of the additions only six are genuine. A part only of ' The Romaunt of the Rose,' 1,705 lines in all, is attributed to Chaucer. He is besides responsible for the whole of ' The Legend of Good Women,' 'The Book of the Duchess,' 'The Complaint to Pity,' the 'Lack of Steadfastness,' and the 'Treatise of the Astrolabe.' Eighteen pieces in all are by Chaucer, eight (apparently) by Lydgate, two by Hoccleve, one each by Henryson, Ros, Usk, Gower, Clanvowe, and Scogan, and six are anonymous. The genuine works, then, occupy less than three-fourths of the volume. For the texc of many of the poems now reprinted the 1532 volume offers the best, in some cases the only authority. In itself the 1532 folio is a handsome book, as are, indeed, all the great folios of Chaucer, which Prof. Skeat is pleased to number, like those of Shake- speare, as four. We have been able to boast th& possession of three of the 1561 folios, noble works, all of which differed in some respects, notably in- title-page, from each other.

It is at the solicitation of many scholars that the- associate publishers have undertaken the task which has been executed in excellent fashion, and constitutes in each case a crowning honour. Lan- guage of eulogy fails us to deal with so noble accomplishment. Emboldened by such an example, the same or other publishers may give us in fac- simile 'The Whole Works of Homer, Prince of Poets,' by Chapman, and ' The Ftierie Queen ' and other works of Edmund Spenser books less im- peratively called for, but sure of a welcome. One or two other books likely even further to delight the scholar we hold in reserve. Chaucer is issued in a limited edition, more than half of which is- subscribed for before publication. Lovers of our early literature and such, once,within our memory, to be counted by units, are now numerous are bound to supply themselves with a copy, and those wise and prudent enough to dp so are not unlikely to see the reprint itself a rarity. Our own recog- nition and thanks are gladly accorded all associated with a gift so precious to letters.

The Diary of Samuel Pepy,$> Edited, with Addi- tions, by Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A. Vols. III. to VI. ( Bell & Sons.)

FOUR further volumes of the reissue of Mr. Wheat- ley's monumental and unsurpassable edition of Pepys carry the immortal diary as far as the end of June, 1667. Nothing remains to be added to the eulogy of the work or the commendation bestowed upon this popular reprint, which necessarily puts all thought of competition out of court. It speaks, however, strongly for Pepys ho- say that,, having;