• Flourished initial 'A'(t), in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales., Canterbury Tales

(foliate) pen-flourishing. Canterbury Tales Sir Hans Sloane (b. 1660, d. 1753), baronet, physician and collector. Purchased as part of the Sloane collection from Sloane's executors and incorporated into the newly founded British Museum in 1753. Flourished initial Geoffrey Chaucer England

• Miniature of the miracle of saint Edmund's head: after Edmund's martyrdom, his head was hidden in a thicket, but a wolf guarded the head and protected it from other wild animals; this marginal miniature is placed next to the text of another miracle, explaining how the head cried out "Here! Here! Here!" enabling it to be found, and reunited with the body., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Decorated initials., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Decorated initials., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Miniature of Edmund tied to a tree and being shot full of arrows by two Viking invaders, with a decorated initial combined with a full foliate border with acanthus leaves, at the beginning of the text., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Historiated initial 'G'(od) with a kneeling Benedictine monk praying to God, probably an author portrait of Lydgate, as his name has been written in the inner margin., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Historiated initial 'M'(usyng) with a standing man (probably Thomas Hoccleve), at the beginning of the Regiment of Princes by Thomas Hoccleve (c. 1368- c. 1450), a poem about the virtues and vices of rulers, addressed to Henry prince of Wales (the future Henry V). (index author portrait), Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Decorated initial 'I'(n) with foliate feathering including acanthus leaves., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Decorated initial 'T'(he) with pen-flourishing., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Decorated initial 'R'(ev[er]ent) with foliate feathering including acanthus leaves at the beginning of Lydgate's Secrees of Old Philisoffres., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Title-page added in the 16th century by Sir William Drury of Hawstead., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Decorated initial 'N'(ow) with foliate feathering including acanthus leaves., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have

• Full border and epigraphic initial with foliate decoration., Fables

Robert Henryson (c. 1439-1506) is known as the 'Scottish Chaucer'. This manuscript of his poems is a copy of Bassandyne's edition printed in Edinburgh in 1571 (see Bawcutt 2005). The drawing of the cock (f. 3v) and the representation of

• Puzzle initial 'A'(llas) with pen-flourishing at the beginning of the book., The Consolation of Philosophy (index De consolatione philosophiae)

for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Puzzle initial Boethius, translated by Geoffrey Chaucer England

• Text page., Canterbury Tales

429.Bought by the British Museum from B. Quaritch, 9 November 1889 (note on 1st flyleaf verso), using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829). Detail Geoffrey Chaucer England

• Text page., Canterbury Tales

429.Bought by the British Museum from B. Quaritch, 9 November 1889 (note on 1st flyleaf verso), using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829). Detail Geoffrey Chaucer England

• Text page., Canterbury Tales

429.Bought by the British Museum from B. Quaritch, 9 November 1889 (note on 1st flyleaf verso), using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829). Detail Geoffrey Chaucer England

• null, Canterbury Tales

by the British Museum from B. Quaritch, 9 November 1889 (note on 1st flyleaf verso), using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829). Flourished initial Geoffrey Chaucer England

• Text page and decorated catchword., Canterbury Tales

429.Bought by the British Museum from B. Quaritch, 9 November 1889 (note on 1st flyleaf verso), using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829). Detail Geoffrey Chaucer England

• Detail of an inserted miniature of a kneeling pilgrim, accompanied by a monk, presenting a book to a standing knight in armour. A later inscription on the facing folio identifies the monk as John Lydgate, and the knight as the Earl of Salisbury, to whom Lydgate's 'The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man' was dedicated. The figure of the monk may represent either Lydgate (d. c. 1450), a Benedictine monk at the abbey of Bury St Edwards, Suffolk, or Deguileville (d. c. 1358), a Cistercian at the abbey of Chalis in Valois, and the earl of Salisbury, Thomas Montague (d. 1428) may be the figure in armour (see Scott 1996, p. 305)., Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect

Fremund (ff. 4-46); Secrees of Old Philisoffres (ff. 52-81); Regiment of Princes (ff. 84-144v); imperfect Part 1:Added poem (on the Chaucer page), 15th century:'Off worthy Chaucerhere the pickture stoodThat much did wryghtand all to doo us good.Summe ffuryous ffoole have