Chaucer's Legende of a Goode Women.: Edited with an Introduction and Notes, Glossarial and Critica, by Hiram Corson

PRESENTED TO A NOTED SCHOLAR, JOHN JACOB ASTOR, BY THE PUBLISHER

CHAUCER, [Geoffrey]. Chaucer's Legende of Goode Women. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, Glossarial and Critical, by Hiram Corson. 12mo, original decorated cloth (uniformly & pleasantly faded), paper label (faded), pp. xxxviii, 145. Philadelphia: Frederick Leypoldt. New York: F. W. Christern. London: Trübner & Co., 1864.

First Edition, second issue, with cancel title dated 1864; printed on thick paper. The first issue has integral title, and is dated 1863. Number 30 of "Only 100 Copies printed in this paper," as stated by a thin slip of paper printed in red pasted under the copyright notice on verso of title-page. Presentation copy, inscribed in pencil by the publisher to John Jacob Astor's grandson, the noted American scholar, writer, and philologist Charles Astor Bristed (1820-1874), for whom see DAB: "C. A. Bristed Esq. With the Compliments of the Publisher. Philad, Jan. 15, 1864." The editor was Hiram Corson (1828-1911), American scholar and professor, who, as an intimate of Walt Whitman, defended him vigorously. Corson has contributed a long introduction, and notes, glossarial and critical, in which he stated his belief that the true spirit of Chaucer's poetry "can be reached only through its original language and not through modernized versions." Other than the pleasant fading of the patterned cloth binding, an excellent copy. Presumably presented by Frederick Leypoldt. 65138