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The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

Summary

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.

In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer created one of the great touchstones of English literature, a masterly collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories and low farce. A story-telling competition between a group of pilgrims from all walks of life is the occasion for a series of tales that range from the Knight's account of courtly love and the ebullient Wife of Bath's Arthurian legend, to the ribald anecdotes of the Miller and the Cook.

About the author

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London in about 1342, and is known as 'the father of English Literature'. He rose in royal employment to become a knight of the shire for Kent and a justice of the peace, and was well-read in several languages and on many topics, such as astronomy, medicine, physics and alchemy. His works include The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde and The Parliament of Fowles. He died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
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