"Assembling at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, a group of pilgrims begin their journey to Canterbury Cathedral. To entertain themselves on the long road, their host suggests that they regale each other with stories, with the teller of the best tale set to earn a free supper. The pilgrims correspond to all sections of medieval society, from the crusading knight to the drunken cook, and their tales span a range of genres, including the comic ribaldry and...

At the Tabard Inn, thirty travelers of widely varying classes and occupations are gathering to make the annual pilgrimage to Becket's shrine at Canterbury. It is agreed that each traveler will tell four tales to help pass the time and that the host of the inn will judge the tales and reward the best storyteller with a free supper upon their return. Thus we hear, translated into modern English, twenty-some tales, told in the voices of knight and merchant,...

The edition of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer published by the Kelmscott Press in 1896 combined the talents of William Morris, one of England's greatest typographers and printers, and those of artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones, who created the 87 full-page woodcut illustrations. For students of Chaucer, English literature, English printing history, and 19th-century British art, the Kelmscott Chaucer is a unique treasure. Originally published in a limited...