Wiley Chaucer's Fame in England: STC Chauceriana, 1475-1640

This new bibliography of over 1,300 Chaucer references builds on a rich tradition of vigorous scholarship, starting with Caroline Spurgeon’s 1925 landmark compilation, Five Hundred Years of Chaucer Criticism and Allusion, 1357–1900. Since the publication of Spurgeon’s volume, two additional bibliographic tools became available to Chaucer scholars: the Short-Title Catalogue, which lists books printed in English from 1475 to 1640, and the University Microfilms project, which makes microfilm versions of those books available to researchers. Chaucer’s Fame lists Chaucer references, allusions, and echoes for books listed in the STC, incorporates and emends all 300 of Spurgeon’s references to books in English, and presents additional Chaucer references unearthed by scholars since 1925, some of which are here published for the first time. Review Recent attention to the nature and history of Chaucer's reception makes Boswell and Holton's compilation a particularly valuable scholarly tool. Its considerable expansion of C. F. E. Spurgeon's Five Hundred Years of Chaucer Criticism and Allusion will enable Chaucerians to deepen their understanding of how, when, and in what ways Chaucer and his works were regarded during the STC years; it will also enable scholars to identify conveniently who first cited particular allusions. --Mark Allen, University of Texas, San Antonio