Satoko Tokunaga – författare

The third volume of the first scholarly edition of the Golden Legend (1483-4), the largest and most elaborate production by the first printer in English, William Caxton. It is an English version of the Legenda aurea by Jacobus de Voragine (c. 1267), one of the most popular and influential books in the later medieval Western world. As well as the Latin original, Caxton drew on a version of Jean de Vignay's French translation (the Légende dorée) and an English rendering of the latter close to the Gilte Legende. The first two volumes of Caxton's Golden Legend (containing respectively the Temporale and the Old Testament legends) were edited by Mayumi Taguchi, John Scahill, and Satoko Tokunaga for EETS in 2020 and 2021. The latter two editors now present an edition of the final, largest section of the work, the Sanctorale - to which The History of the Mass, The Twelve Articles of Faith, and Caxton's colophon are appended. This volume reproduces Caxton's text of the first half of the Sanctorale with modern punctuation and capitalization. It is of particular interest in including quires that exist in two forms: the original setting, and a second setting which contains extensive differences that cast light on practices and conditions in early printing. Following this third volume, the fourth volume will complete the text, and the fifth volume will feature an introduction, explanatory notes, glossary, and index of proper names.

This is volume I of the first scholarly edition of the Golden Legend, the largest and most elaborate production of the first printer in English, William Caxton. It is an English translation of Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda aurea (ca. 1267), a collection of legends for the feasts of saints (the Sanctorale) and other major days of the liturgical year (the Temporale). The Legenda aurea was one of the most popular and influential books in the later medieval Western world; it circulated widely, and was repeatedly translated into many vernacular languages. This volume reproduces Caxton's original text of the Temporale with modern punctuation and capitalization, notes on content, syntax and lexis, a detailed glossary, and an index of proper names. Caxton's complex combination of sources is given particular attention: the principal one was a little-known reworking of the French translation made by Jean de Vignay, but he also used the Latin original and a previous English translation, the Gilte Legende, and made some personal additions. The Introduction considers the structure of the entire book that Caxton created, but focuses on the Temporale and the set of Old Testament legends that will follow in volume 2. It discusses their sources and language, highlighting the differences between the first two volumes and the notable number of new words and senses. It also gives a detailed bibliographic account of this printing in its historical context and descriptions of all surviving copies.