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The Variorum Chaucer

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The Variorum Chaucer

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The Variorum Chaucer project has a twofold mission: 1) to provide an analysis of the textual history of Chaucer's individual works; 2) to offer a comprehensive overview of all facets of critical commentary on each work.

Textual analysis begins with collation, a careful word-by-word comparison of important manuscripts and printed editions of the work in question; in most cases some thirty or so copies are examined. The process allows one to see how copyists and editors, from the 15th century to the late 20th century, understood, revised, presented, and explained the language of Chaucer's works.

The survey of criticism seeks to provide a historical survey of all commentary on each aspect of a given work: sources and analogues, date, relationship with other Chaucerian works, all relevant thematic considerations, and individual passages, phrases, and words.
 

Director: Prof. Daniel J. Ransom (1988-2021)
Email: djransom@ou.edu                       

Managing Editor Emerita: Dr. Lynne Hunt Levy (1996-2018)

Founder and Director Emeritus:
Prof. Paul G. Ruggiers (1967-98)

Publications


1979 The Canterbury Tales: A Facsimile and Transcription of the Hengwrt Manuscript, with Variants from the Ellesmere Manuscript. Ed. Paul G. Ruggiers

1982 The Minor Poems, Part One. Ed. George B. Pace and Alfred David

1983 The Miller's Tale. Ed. Thomas W. Ross

1983 The Nun's Priest's Tale. Ed. Derek Pearsall

1984 The Manciple's Tale. Ed. Donald C. Baker

1987 The Prioress's Tale. Ed. Beverly Boyd

1987 The Physician's Tale. Ed. Helen Storm Corsa

1990 The Squire's Tale. Ed. Donald C. Baker

1993 The General Prologue. Ed. Malcolm Andrew, Charles Moorman, and Daniel J. Ransom

1995 The Summoner's Tale. Ed. John F. Plummer III

1999 The Romaunt of the Rose. Ed. Charles Dahlberg

2002 A Treatise on the Astrolabe. Ed. Sigmund Eisner

2012 The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale. Ed. Mark Allen and John H. Fisher

Ancillary Publications, Facsimile Series (Pilgrim Books)

1980 Tanner 346, Bodleian Library, Oxford. Intro. Pamela Robinson

1982 Bodley 638, Bodleian Library, Oxford. Intro. Pamela Robinson

1983 St. John's College, Cambridge, L.1. Intro. Richard Beadle and Jeremy Griffiths

1985 Pepys 2006, Magdalene College, Cambridge. Intro. A. S. G. Edwards

1986 Morgan M.817 (olim Campsall), Pierpont Morgan Library. Intro. Jeanne Krochalis

1987 Trinity R.3.19, Trinity College, Cambridge. Intro. Bradford Y. Fletcher