Geoffey Chaucer (c.1340-1400) was one of the finest storytellers in the English language, as well as being a great poet and an accomplished prose writer. The Canterbury Tales, although incomplete at the time of Chaucer's death, is generally regarded as his greatest work. The Canterbury Tales tells the story of 30 pilgrims who meet by chance at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, London and journey together to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury cathedral. To pass the time along the way, they tell stories to one another. The Tales themselves range from the exemplary saints' lives told by the nuns, to the bawdy, comic tales of the miller and the reeve, always shot through with Chaucer's cunning wit and dry humour. Chaucer leaves his readers with the impression that the whole of medieval society has passed before their eyes. This new transcription and edition is taken from British Library MS Harley 7334, a beautifully decorated, volume produced within ten years of Chaucer's death.

The aim of the present edition, with its 'on-page' notes and glosses, is to enable readers with little or no previous experience of medieval English to read and enjoy this landmark in English Literature.