Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in manuscript

After complaining recently in the thread on Blake that the famous Ellesmere Manuscript of the Canterbury Tales is locked away in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, lo and behold they decided to put it out on exhibition:

https://huntington.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e49582161b2d45e4940667719&...

Furthermore, they have a video teaching you how to read Middle English:

https://huntington.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e49582161b2d45e4940667719&...

as well as a fascinating look at the graffiti (more properly, I believe marginalia) on the blank pages of the manuscript:

https://huntington.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e49582161b2d45e4940667719&...

And, when you're ready to make the dive into the original, the Manuscript is now digitized and available online:

https://huntington.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e49582161b2d45e4940667719&...

I wonder what brought on this embarrassment of riches? Whatever the reason, it's a great resource for all of us.

>1 Django6924: If you want something a bit more substantial than digital, you have several choices....

>2 Glacierman:

Yes, I remember a docent at the Huntington mentioned the facsimiles on one of my visits several years ago. The monochrome version was the most affordable (about four hundred dollars), but the bound color version was well into four figures.

I see in your link that you need to request a quote now, so depending on how many copies remain of the edition (limited to 250 copies), I'm not sure what the going rate is now.

The free digital version is fine for me, as I find the Anglicana script very taxing to read; in fact, did I not know the Middle English verses so well, I doubt I could decipher even the General Prologue.