Defective Version of Mandeville''s Travels

Seymour makes light work of the notoriously knotty problems of the Mandeville manuscripts, bringing economy and clarity to matters of orthography, collation, dialect, omission, and lacunae. An edition of the earliest and most important English translation of the French text of Mandeville's Travels, the widely influential collection of travellers' tales. This volume also contains a full commentary with new information about the sources. Its name derives from the loss of the second quire in the Insular manuscript, or its antecedent, from which it was translated. Despite this loss, the Defective Version established itself as the dominant form of the workin England, and was perpetuated in the printed editions of the text until 1725. Whilst Seymour's text is ultimately speculative, we do now have a coherent, immensely practical English version of the Travels with which to work. Medium Aevum The publication of this important version will make a substantial contribution to the field of scholarship, especially for those interested in the circulation of the Travels in England and in the Mandeville manuscript tradition. Medium Aevum Seymour makes light work of the notoriously knotty problems of the Mandeville manuscripts, bringing economy and clarity to matters of orthography, collation, dialect, omission, and lacunae. Medium Aevum Containing part of the description of Egypt and based on examination of the manuscripts of the Middle English text and its French source, this collection of travellers' tales offers details of the author's indirect reliance on Marco Polo for much of his Asian relation.

Product details

• Authors: John Mandeville, M.C. Seymour
• Assisted by: M. C. Seymour (Editor), M.C. Seymour (Editor), Professor M. C. Seymour (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 16.10.2008
• EAN: 9780197223222
• ISBN: 978-0-19-722322-2
• No. of pages: 266
• Series: Early English Text Society Original Series; Early English Text Society (Ha; Early English Text Society Original Series; Early English Text Society Ori
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Essays, feuilletons, literary criticism, interviews; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies