Testament of Cresseid
London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1968. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 12mo. Fine / Near Fine. Item #005110
Nelson's Medieval and Renaissance Library. Original dark brown cloth. vii, 165 pp. Ink ownership inscription to ffep. A few neat pencil lines and annotations to interior. Fine condition. Dust jacket has a few spots of wear to joints and edges, some creases and short tears, small perforation to front joint. Robert Henryson's Testament of Cresseid is one of the most attractive and most justly famous late-medieval poems. Henryson's audacious attempt to write a continuation of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, resulted in a poem so brilliant that that for centuries, ironically, Henryson himself was forgotten while the Testament was thought to be by Chaucer. The poem is filled with references to late-medieval ideas about medical and natural sciences, astrology, and the pagan gods, but the learning is disguised by rhetorical manoeuvres and an amiable naivete.
Price: $30.00