The Riverside Chaucer

I bought this for a class that required the Riverside Chaucer, and I took a gamble hoping that the pages would be relatively the same. Turns out they are. All of the notes, introductory material, index are there. The pages are the same as the larger, hard cover copy. The only problem I have with this edition is that the binding does not look very long-lasting, and the ink on the pages smudges. Seems cheaply put together. I like to own good books, and the Riverside Chaucer is definitely worth having as a student of literature. I wish I had spent a little more money and purchased the hard cover edition which is so much better made (I've compared this one with the hard cover copies my fellow students have). You get what you pay for with this copy. If you want to keep an edition of Chaucer for a long time, get the hard cover edition and your money will be well spent.

I'm not really here to review Chaucer. If you're reading him, you know what you're dealing with. I do wish, however, that they put the additional information all in one place, instead of having notes before the section, at the back of the book (in addition to the glossary), and footnotes. The page numbering matches the hardcover exactly, which was much appreciated during tests.As for the quality of the book itself, it's all right. I bought this because my class is a half hour walk away from my apartment, and is uphill, too. The hardcover would have been terrible to bring. The paper is thin and the print is small, but the upside is that it's a whole lot lighter. The binding hasn't failed despite a semester of fairly heavy abuse, so it's done it's job. My professor said the older paperback edition used to be notorious for how quickly the binding split, so I appreciated that my book is still in pretty good shape, 4 months later.

This paperback is about 3" think, not exactly a pocket book. The type is the smallest I have seen since we had phone books. The notes are about 1/2 of the text. There is a lot of apparatus, notes, etc. There is an article on the astrolabe. The notes would be meaningful to a scholar. There are no color pictures.The inclusion of Chaucer's works seems to be exhaustive. The paper is of average quality, and my personal opinion is that is will yellow quickly. The binding is very tight, but not sewn. It is hard to imagine anyone using this book, because of its size small print, small margins, binding that is not sewn, poor paper, and I would suspect that the glue of the binding will crack and the pages fall out.

The paperback immediately appealed to me because of its size and weight; the hardcover is just way too much and heavy to lug around all day on campus. The pagination was the same, and it's essentially the same thing. The pages are a bit thin, so be careful when turning. Also the print is in very small text, so those with bad eyes should consider buying the bigger hardcover version, but if you can read small print this is the version you want.

If you can, buy the hardcover of this collection. It’s much easier to navigate, it being wider.

The sheer amount of prose and poetry here is extraordinary given the range of important official jobs GC had in his career and the fact that he wrote at a time before electric lighting and computers.

As an English major, I was thrilled to find this paperback version of the literary standard for Chaucerean studies at such an affordable price! Arrived quickly and in perfect condition!

The Riverside Chaucer, anyone who does research on the subject should know, is the edition to turn to. Even if someone where to dislike it, The Chaucer Review, for example, requests specifically to quote from its pages... I somehow feel disappointed, though, that the manuscript utilized for The Canterbury Tales is the Ellesmere, when the Hengwrt is usually recognized as more authoritative, but for that we have the excellent facsimile by the Ohio University, which I already reviewed.Overall it is great, and the only important drawback is the sheer size of the paperback along with the fact that it is glued, making it a sure candidate to lose its pages sooner or later.

This is a superb edition befitting a superb writer whose literary ability is matched by his erudition and dedication to the art of writing. The sheer amount of prose and poetry here is extraordinary given the range of important official jobs GC had in his career and the fact that he wrote at a time before electric lighting and computers. Was all of this really scratched out by a quill on parchment, often by candlelight? I suppose it must have been. Other Amazon critics here have rightly drawn attention to the delights you'll find in here and all I'd like to add is the remarkable way he handled dialogue, especially in Troilus and Criseyde, where characters' assertions, evasions, interjections and contradictions are subtly shot through with what they're thinking, in the manner of a superior modern novel. Put it like this: if The Tabard was my local pub I'd be there every night and a six-week beano to Canterbury would be just the ticket to swap a few yarns with my fellow revellers and have a roistering time into the bargain. This volume is worth its weight in gold.

Bought a used edition from the marketplace: For anyone studying this, the paper copy is essential (and worth the money) as there are so many explanatory notes and contextual information included. I found this much more useful than any free online edition of the Canterbury Tales.

Useful for classes and middle English Chaucer.

brilliant and easy to read. great notes at the front too. used for both BA and MA course at university

Arrived in good time, satisfied with purchase.