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;
