Geoffrey Chaucer (ca 1340–1400)
The book of fame
[Westminster]: William Caxton, [1483]

William Caxton knew he would need to find books for his fledgling press that would be guaranteed a paying audience; as well as religious texts, therefore, he also produced popular works by established authors such as Chaucer. As he notes here, his exemplar manuscript was incomplete–‘I fynde nomore of this werke’–so the end of the text (from the marginal ‘Caxton’ onwards) is his own composition.

Inc.3.J.1.1[3506], leaf d5 (Royal Library)