Ellesmere MS, c. 1410, portrait of Chaucer

The Variorum Chaucer    Publications listed below. Director: Daniel J. Ransom (1988- ) Phone: 405-325-1803 e-mail: djransom@ou.edu Managing Editor: Lynne Hunt Levy (1996- ) Phone: 405-325-6702 e-mail: lhlevy@ou.edu Founder and Director Emeritus: Paul G. Ruggiers (1967-98) 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.

Publications (The University of Oklahoma Press)

    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

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

    1984 The Nun's Priest's Tale. Ed. Derek Pearsall

    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
 

Ancillary Publications, Facsimile Series (Pilgrim Books)

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

    1982 Bodley 638, Bodleian Libary, 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