The Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is an early 15th century manuscript of the Canterbury Tales, held in the Huntington Library, in San Marino, California (MS EL 26 C 9). There is another early manuscript of the same called the Hengwrt manuscript, and they are believed to be by the same scribe, though the Ellesmere manuscript has much more elaborate illustrations. A full collation (word by word comparison) of the two manuscripts is contained in Estelle Stubbs' edition of the Hengwrt Chaucer Digital Facsimile, published as part of the Canterbury Tales Project. Specimen pages from this edition (including the collation of the first page) can be seen online. The Ellesmere manuscripts began to be assembled by the Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Egerton (1540-1617), Baron Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley and were added to by his descendants. The library of manuscripts remained at the Egerton house, Ashridge, Hertfordshire, until 1802 when it was removed to London. Francis Egerton, created Earl of Ellesmere in 1846, inherited the library, and it remained in the family until its sale to Henry Huntington by John Francis Granville Scrope Egerton (1872-1944), 4th Earl of Ellesmere. Huntington purchased the Bridgewater library privately in 1917 through Sotheby’s.
