Les Contes de Canterbury de Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales was Chaucer’s last and most famous work, written mostly after

1387 and not completed at the time of his death. The original plan called for 120 tales,

but he completed only 20 and left parts of four more. The order in which the tales were supposed

to be presented is uncertain. About 90 manuscripts of the tales exist, but not all of them

are complete. One of the best is the Ellesmere manuscript in the possession of the

Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif. The book was first put into print in

about 1476 by William Caxton, the first English printer.