Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ... PREFACE. In the fall of 1901 I became interested in the Old French Roman d'Aventure known as the Roman de la Violette, by Gerbert de Montreuil, and, at the suggestion of Associate Professor E. C. Armstrong of the Romance Department in Johns Hopkins University, I determined to make a study of this poem. The Roman de la Violette had already appeared in a limited edition of two hundred copies, edited by Francisque Michel in 1834.1 At that time, however, the editor was able to control only two of the four extant Mss. and the imperfectly developed science of Romance text-editing rendered impossible a critical edition in the modern sense of the term. Thinking, therefore, that the Violette, important from both a linguistic and a literary point of view, merited a more detailed treatment than that given by Michel, I decided to make a careful study of the poem, based on photographic reproductions of all the Mss., with a view to publishing ultimately a critical edition. Of the four Mss. of the Violette two are in the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris, one is in the Imperial Library of Saint Petersburg, and one is in the private library of Mr. J. E. Kerr of New York. Through the generous courtesy of Mr. Kerr, to whom I am especially indebted for his kindness in placing the MS. at my disposal, I was able to photograph his entire MS. in the spring of 1902. I had already, before this, obtained permission from the authorities of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris and of the Imperial Library in Saint Petersburg to photograph the Mss. of the Violette preserved in those libraries. I therefore went to Saint Petersburg in May, 1902, and, through the courtesy of the Librarian of the Imperial Library, I was permitted at once to photograph the Ms. of..."
