[LEAF BOOK]. -- [CAXTON, William (ca 1422-1491 or 1492)]. CHAUCER, Geoffrey (d. 1400). "Man of Law's Tale." Extracted from: The Canterbury Tales. Westminster: William Caxton, 1476.

Single leaf, chancery folio (235 x 185). Folio 82 (pagination "155" in pencil, probably by Lord Ashburnham), 29 lines (58 total), bastarda 2:135 type. Provenance: Fourth Earl of Ashburnham, his third copy sold at Sotheby's 9 May 1898, lot 4061 (Christie's census 23, see Wentworth sale catalogue, London 8 July 1998, p. 28); sold, at Christie's, 11 December 2001, lot 431.

A LEAF CONTAINING A SIGNIFICANT PASSAGE FROM "MAN OF LAW'S TALE," incipit: "Of one she knoweth not the condition?" and ending with "And when assembled was this folk in-feere" (comprising lines 271-328). In this section, the Man of Law's Tale discusses arranged marriages, women's subordination, and medieval belief in astrology ("Of one she knoweth not the condition / Hosbondis been alle goode and have be yore / That knowe wyvys I dar sey nomore... / Wommen are born to thraldom & to penance / And to be under manys governance... / That cruel marce hath slayn this marriage... / O Marce o atazir as in this case / O feble mone unhappy be thy paas." The saintly Constance is preparing to meet her husband, an unknown sultan.

THE FOUNDATIONAL TEXT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE: A LEAF FROM THE FIRST EDITION OF THE CANTERBURY TALES, PRINTED BY WILLIAM CAXTON, ENGLAND'S FIRST PRINTER. The leaf was originally from Lord Ashburnham's incomplete copy of the Canterbury Tales (sold at Sotheby's, May 1898), the Caxton Club acquiring 148 leaves for this edition. De Ricci's census of Caxtons 22; Duff 87; GW 6585; Goff C-431; ISTC ic00431000; cf. Mosser census of Caxton leaves in: Disbound and Dispersed.

[Laid into:] DUFF, E. Gordon. William Caxton. Chicago: The Caxton Club, 1905. 4to. Illustrated. Original cloth-backed boards, printed spine label, uncut; remnants of publisher's slipcase. LIMITED EDITION, one of 150 copies, containing a leaf from Caxton's Chaucer loosely inserted in rear pocket.

Disbound and Dispersed, A Leaf Book Considered was a traveling exhibition commemorating the centenary of the Caxton Club's publication of this leaf book about the life and work of William Caxton. "It was the first leaf book devoted to Caxton, and it is sought today not only by those collectors who wish to own an example from the most famous work produced by England's first printer, but also by those who would like to add the Chicago-based club's most famous publication to their own libraries"
(Joel Silver, "Catalog of the Exhibition," in Disbound and Dispersed 6).

[LEAF BOOK]. -- [CAXTON, William (ca 1422-1491 or 1492)]. CHAUCER, Geoffrey (d. 1400). "Man of Law's Tale." Extracted from: The Canterbury Tales. Westminster: William Caxton, 1476.