Abstract
On June 10, 1480, William Caxton issued his edition of the Chronicles of England, based on the Middle English prose Brut. On August 18 of the same year he issued the Description of Britain, a short work adapted from John Trevisa's translation of Ranulph Higden's Polychronicon. Two years later, at some point between July 2 and November 20, 1482, Caxton published his full edition of Trevisa's Polychronicon, and on October 8 of the same year he issued a second edition of the Chronicles of England.' Caxton's choice of texts shows his usual sound business sense, giving the public popular works in printed form for which it had already shown a taste in manuscript form.2 Among secular works the Brut was unsurpassed in popularity in England; there survive at least 170 manuscripts in English, 50 in Anglo-Norman, and 15 in Latin. After its appearance in print the work sustained its popularity and appeared in thirteen editions between 1480 and 1528.3 Higden's Latin Polychronicon survives in at least 118 manuscripts and
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