Troilus and Criseyde

This long narrative poem, composed in the 1380s in rhyme royal, retells a Trojan love story drawn from Boccaccio. Troilus, a young Trojan prince, falls in love with Criseyde, a widow whose father has defected to the Greeks. Her uncle Pandarus engineers their affair inside a city under siege. When a prisoner exchange sends Criseyde to the Greek camp, she is pressed by Diomede and the lovers' vows collapse. Chaucer frames the tale with Boethian questions about fortune, free will, and worldly happiness. The poem is neither simple romance nor simple tragedy: it watches how speech, delay, and political necessity undo private faith.

Bound in goatskin leather blocked with a design in 22-carat gold, printed on Rigoletto Panna, 5 full page illustrations, elaborate title page and decorative borders throughout, felt-marked paper, gilding on all three page edges, ribbon marker. Commentary volume quarter-bound in buckram with Merida paper sides. Black buckram-bound gilt titled solander case.