GOOD: The book's corners show the most wear, but, otherwise, it is in good condition. The pages are tanning slightly with age (1980). The pages are free of marks.
Product Details
This edition was translated into modern English by the late Professor Nevill Coghill and has become an "enduring bestseller."
From the back cover: "With their astonishing diversity of tone and subject-matter, The Canterbury Tales have become one of the touchstones of medieval literature. The tales are told by a motley crowd of pilgrims as they journey for five days from Southwark to Canterbury. Drawn from all levels of society and all walks of life *from knight to nun, miller to monk), the pilgrims reveal a picture of English life in the fourteenth century that is as robust as it is representative.
"Rendered here with consummate skill and sensitivity into modern English verse by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales (which Geoffrey Chaucer began in 1386 and never completed) retail all their vigour, their humour and indeed their poetry."
The book begins with an Introduction entitled "Chaucer's Life — Chaucer's Works" and then continues with each of the tales.
The tales are grouped from "A" to "I" and several of them have a prologue or an epilogue. The tales are:
The Knight's Tale
The Miller's Tale
The Reeve's Tale
The Cook's Tale
The Man of Law's Tale
The Shipman's Tale
The Prioress's Tale
Chaucer's Tale of Sir Topaz
Chaucer's Tale of Melibee
The Monk's Tale
The Nun's Priest's Tale
The Physician's Tale
The Pardoner's Tale
The Wife of Bath's Tale
The Friar's Tale
The Summoner's Tale
The Clerk's Tale
The Merchant's Tale
The Squire's Tale
The Franklin's Tale
The Second Nun's Tale
The Canon's Yeoman's Tale
The Manciple's Tale
The Parson's Tale
The book ends with Chaucer's Retractions and Notes.
