Ellesmere Chaucer Leads Huntington's New 'Stories from the Library' Exhibition

The Huntington Library’s new exhibition series in Los Angeles opens June 21 with a focus on Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and in particular the library's own Ellesemere Chaucer.

Running through December 1 in the Art Gallery’s Large Library, The Tales Through Time will focus on The Huntington’s manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales known as the Ellesemere Chaucer. This manuscript was created between 1400 and 1405 and is regarded as the most complete and authoritative version, featuring what is probably an image of the author himself on horseback as well as miniature paintings of 22 of the pilgrims on their way from London to Canterbury. 

It is presented alongside later examples to reveal how writers, artists, and printers have changed the tales textually and visually over five centuries of retellings. Future exhibition themes include the everyday lives of women writers, early science and medicine, international relations, and final moments of life, including Octavia E. Butler’s commonplace book and an ink-blotted page of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, as well as other items which have never previously been on public show.

“Drawn from across the Library’s vast holdings, each rotation in this series centers on a single item making a star turn, a destination object, placed in conversation with other selections,” said Sandra Brooke Gordon, Avery Director of the Library. “These exhibitions highlight the interrelatedness, beauty, and power of the Library’s collection of approximately 12 million items, while encouraging visitors to make new and inspired connections.”

The exhibitions will take place in two rooms of the historic Huntington mansion including the former private library of Henry E. and Arabella Huntington and will rotate in pairs every six months through June 2028. 

“While this series includes some of the Library’s most iconic works, it is not a treasure show,” said Vanessa Wilkie, William A. Moffett Senior Curator of Medieval Manuscripts and British History and cocurator of the series. “Rather, it offers unique opportunities to provide more focused narratives with a broader range of materials.”