Buying Gower's 'Confessio Amantis' in Modern Times.
- Author/Editor
- Edwards, A. S. G.
- Title
- Buying Gower's 'Confessio Amantis' in Modern Times.
- Published
- Edwards, A. S. G. "Buying Gower's 'Confessio Amantis' in Modern Times." In John Gower in England and Iberia: Manuscripts, Influences, Reception. Ed. Ana Sáez-Hidalgo and R. F. Yeager. Publications of the John Gower Society X. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 2014. Pp. 279-90.
- Review
- Edwards considers modern sale prices of manuscripts and Caxton's 1483 edition of "Confessio Amantis" as evidence for "the acumen of individual collectors or book dealers" and "the relationship . . . between commercial value and cultural and/or academic significance" (281) of the CA. Of fifty-odd manuscripts, fifteen have been sold or offered since the late nineteenth century. Huntington Library MS EL 26. A. 17 and Folger Shakespeare Library MS SM 1 were purchased en bloc and had no specified prices. Only one is in a British Library: Bodleian Library MS Lyell 31. Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 126, one of two that "include a full cycle of miniatures" (282), now lacking nine, was purchased in 1902 for £1,727. The rarity of Caxton's edition--only seven complete copies survive--and his "mystique … as the father of English printing" (285), enhanced its sale prices: an imperfect copy sold in 1981 for £22,000. The essay concludes with two appendices, listing sales of CA manuscripts and of Caxton's "Gower" since c.1900. [MPK. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2]
- Date
- 2014
- Gower Subjects
- Manuscripts and Textual Studies
Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations
Confessio Amantis