Charles Cotton's Copy of Chaucer's Works. CHAUCER, GEOFFREY. 1343-1400. The Workes of our Ancient and lerned English Poet, Geffrey Chaucer, newly Printed. London: Adam Islip, 1602. Folio (305 x 195 mm). Title printed within woodcut border, full-page engraving of Chaucer signed by John Speed, woodcut illustrations of a knight and several armorials. (Mostly marginal dampstaining, a few tiny wormholes or holes occasionally touching letters.) Contemporary English panelled calf, red morocco lettering-piece gilt (some wear). Provenance: William Hopkins (Latin inscription on title-page); Francis Lovelace (1621-1675), second Governor of New York Colony (Latin inscription on title-page); Peter Lely (1618-1680), Dutch painter (ex dono inscription to); Charles Cotton (1630-1687), English author (signature, Latin inscription on title-page, inscription on second title: 'If this bee thy best poetry would Death had nought his will of thee CC'); a very few other underlinings or minor annotations in an unidentified likely 17th-century hand. A COPY WITH DISTINGUISHED PROVENANCE, given by painter Sir Peter Lely to Charles Cotton, author of The Compleat Angler, of whom Lely painted a well-known portrait. Lely and Cotton were connected to Francis Lovelace through their relationship with his brother, poet Richard Lovelace. Lely and Cotton both contributed verses to Richard Lovelace's Lucasta (1649). The work bears inscriptions in three hands on the title-page: 'Sum Guilelmi Hopki[ns] / Nunc Francisci Lovelace: / Et iam nunc Caroli Cottonis ('I am William Hopkins's / Now I am Francis Lovelace's / And even now I am Charles Cotton's'). Lovelace, Cotton, and Lely likely knew William Hopkins through his Cavalier sympathies. Second Thomas Speght edition, and the seventh edition overall. 'This edition considerably revised mainly with the aid of Francis Thynne. It is the earliest in which thorough punctuation was attempted, and in many other ways it is a distinct improvement upon Speght's first edition. Two hitherto unprinted pieces are inserted, one non-Chaucerian' (Pforzheimer). ESTC S107210; Grolier Langland to Wither 36; Pforzheimer 178; STC 5080. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing