The Canterbury Tales are one of the great classics of all literature. They were written by
Geoffrey Chaucer, poet, warrior, diplomat and royal pensioner, around 1387, and are famous for the pictures they give of life in the 14th century. The tales were supposed to have been told by various members of a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral in England to while away the time.
John Erskine, celebrated author of
The Private Life of Helen of Troy, now relates these tales delightfully for the readers of
The American Weekly, and
Edmund Dulac, famed English painter and etcher, makes them vivid with his incomparable art. These eight illustrations were published in
The American Weekly magazine in 1942.
John Erskine provided his interpretation of the Tales and his essay about the
Canterbury Tales from his 1928
The Delight of Great Books is included with additional illustrations. There is a further reading section which also includes illustrated editions from the early nineteenth century to the present.
Other illustrators featured in this edition include Edward Burne-Jones (from The Kelmscott Chaucer), W.H. Robinson, Maria L Kirk, Willy Pogany, Hugh Thomson, Rudolf Belarski, Mrs. H.R. Haweis, Anne Anderson, W.A. Clark, Warwick Goble, Milo Winter, Thomas Bewick, Edward Courbold, Edith Ewen, Mabel Peacock, W.R. Flint, Arthur Szyk, and Gustav Tenggren.
The eight Canterbury Tales included are:
- The Student’s Tale of Patient Griselda
- The Knight’s Tale of Emily’s Lovers
- The Miller’s Tale of the Carpenter’s Wife
- The Squire’s Tale of Canace and the Talking Falcon
- The Wife of Bath’s Tale of the Amorous Knight
- The Merchant’s Tale of the Doting Husband
- The Man of Law’s Tale of What Happened to Constance
- The Second Nun’s Tale of Saint Cecilia
All the original artwork for the covers has been restored, and a crop of each image follows the tales. This was a difficult undertaking for Dulac, who moved out of London due to the bombing during the war. The illustrations had to be sent by ship to America to avoid Axis warships and submarines looking to sink any Allied vessel.
Dulac never before tried to illustrate either King Arthur, his 1940 American Weekly series, or Canterbury Tales, unlike many of his famous contemporaries. There is speculation that Hearst approved these two series to rally Americans to aid Britain during their hour of need by showcasing two of their most well-known and liked classics.
