The Canterbury Tales and The Faerie Queene – With Other Poems of Chaucer and Spenser
Edited by D. Laing Purves
Published by W. P. Nimmo, Hay, & Mitchell, Edinburgh and London, 1889
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
 
Features
 
An early combined edition of Chaucer and Spenser (1889) edited for popular perusal with current illustrative and explanatory notes
Includes Life of Geoffrey Chaucer and Life of Edmund Spenser
Illustrated with:
Frontispiece portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer (engraved by William Finden) with tissue guard
Decorative illustrated title page
Full-page portrait of Edmund Spenser facing p.295 (engraved by Charles Turner Warren)
Top edge gilt
Coloured endpapers and pastedowns
Original decorative black cloth binding with ornate gilt spine lettering and design
616 pages
 
Binding
 
Bound in the publisher’s original black cloth with textured boards. The spine is richly gilt with decorative flourishes and lettering. There is rubbing to corners and edges, with small cloth splits at the spine tips and a short tear at the outer hinge near the front board. Despite this wear, the binding remains firm and attractive.
 
Condition
 
Boards intact and robust for a book of this age (135 years)
Light wear, soft bumping to corners, and a few small marks
Pages bright and clean overall, with only very occasional small marks, light foxing, or faint creasing that does not affect readability
A few small page-edge tears (mostly from historic page-cutting), none affecting the text
Some unevenly cut page edges, as expected from the original binding method
Occasional small pen marks, including on endpapers and a few internal pages
Previous owner's inscriptions and a small embossed stamp to front endpaper
Gutter lightly cracked at pastedowns and between a couple of internal leaves, but all pages remain firmly bound and complete
 
Dimensions
 
Approximately 24 cm x 16.3 cm x 4 cm
Weight: c. 1,090 grams
 
Historical and Literary Significance
 
This elegant 1889 volume brings together two monumental pillars of English literature—Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, and Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. Purves' editorial work makes these challenging texts accessible to the general reader while preserving their poetic richness.
 
Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343–1400): Widely regarded as the father of English literature, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales captures a cross-section of medieval life in a vibrant array of voices and tales.
 
Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599): A central figure in the English Renaissance, Spenser’s Faerie Queene was written to glorify Queen Elizabeth I and is known for its allegorical depth and elaborate Spenserian stanza.
 
This edition is both readable and collectible, offering an ideal balance of visual appeal and literary prestige.