A New Scribe of Chaucer and Gower
- Author/Editor
- Mooney, Linne R
- Title
- A New Scribe of Chaucer and Gower
- Published
- Mooney, Linne R. "A New Scribe of Chaucer and Gower." Journal of the Early Book Society 7 (2004), pp. 131-140. ISSN 1525-6790
- Review
- Mooney adds a fifth scribe to the list of those who are known to have worked on MSS of both Chaucer's and Gower's works. His was the sole hand, Mooney argues, in both Harley 1758 (CT) and London, Society of Antiquaries 134 (Macaulay's "X"), which contains Lydgate's "Life of Our Lady," Hoccleve's "Regement of Princes," a portion of Walton's verse translation of Boethius, and, in Macaulay's classification, an "intermediate" version of the "first recension" of CA. The scribe worked in the mid-15th century. On the basis of spelling, Mooney traces his origin to the area between Ludlow and Halesowen, in a line almost directly west of modern Birmingham, consistent with the earliest evidence of the ownership of the two books. Other contemporary MSS of CT with West Midlands affiliations indicate that this was "not a particularly unusual site for copying of these texts" (137). Both books are of high quality, on vellum, with extensive decoration. Harley 1758 has been heavily corrected, while Macaulay notes that the textual affiliations of CA in "X" change in mid-copy, indicating access to more than a single exemplar of each work. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society: JGN 24.2]
- Date
- 2004
- Gower Subjects
- Manuscripts and Textual Studies