Geoffrey Chaucer
English, d. 1400
The Canterbury Tales, 1476
Westminster: William Caxton,
1st edition, Printed book
Middle English
Saint Vincent Special Collections
​William Caxton is responsible for importing the invention of mechanical printing to England, forever revolutionizing how knowledge is disseminated. A successful wool trade merchant within the Northern European trading center of Bruges, Belgium, Caxton functioned as a diplomat on behalf of the English monarchy. Exposed to the burgeoning printing market in Cologne, Germany, Caxton published his translation of Raoul Lefèvre’s The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye in 1473–the first book ever to be printed in English. Caxton established his own press in Westminster, England two years later. There, he selected Geoffrey Chaucer’s (c. 1345–1400) The Canterbury Tales for print–an exceedingly popular text that was anticipated to be commercially lucrative. Chaucer’s longest work, while believed by scholars to be incomplete, regales readers with a series of twenty-four tales told by pilgrims en route to St. Thomas à Becket’s shrine at Canterbury Cathedral. Chaucer’s decision to write in Middle English rather than customary French or Latin garnered wider interest from the public and helped enshrine The Canterbury Tales among the most significant works of English literature.
 
Saint Vincent’s copy of Chaucer’s masterpiece is one of only a dozen first edition copies still in existence. Caxton used a combination of machine printed text with hand-applied decorative initials in red – a hybridity common among many incunabula or books printed prior to 1500. Similarly, the gothic typeface of Caxton’s text was intended to mimic a style of handwriting common in Northern Europe.
Chaucer begins the book by describing the travelers who have gathered at Tabard Inn just outside of London before embarking on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket in Canterbury. The innkeeper suggests that these unlikely companions hold a storytelling competition to pass the time while making the sixty mile trek to the cathedral. Read the General Prologue to learn about the pilgrims and compare the text in Middle English with its modern translation. 
Write/Compose/Draw
For some, a road trip is a rite of passage or a spiritual quest; for others, it's born out of necessity. Whatever the motivation, making an extended trip is typically more than just getting from “point A to point B." The Canterbury Tales is a reminder that the stories from our journey are just as important as our intended destination.
​
​Think about a road trip you want to go on.
With whom will you be traveling?
Where are you headed?
What's motivating you to go?
How will you get there?
What have you packed?

Create a playlist of 20 songs to play on your trip.
What links these songs together? 

Describe an encounter with an unfamiliar place you have along the way.
What time of day is it?
Who is there?
What can you smell?
Describe the textures around you.
​Be specific.
Sketch this scene.
For additional inspiration, consider reading one of these novels about the risks and rewards of being on the road:

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat Moon
Enrique's Journey: The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to reunite with His Mother by Sonia Nazario
History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis
In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig