ABSTRACT
John Gower seems to have been the first English literary author to create an illustration program for his work. A Vox manuscript possibly created by Gower for presentation to Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury presents another form of book-conscious iconography. Three manuscripts of the Vox Clamantis open the text with an image of an older man, presumably meant to represent Gower, aiming an arrow at a floating globe. The T-O map might have been familiar to Gower from its frequent inclusion in manuscripts of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, a text that Robert F. Yeager describes as "well known to Gower". Two late fifteenth-century Confessio manuscripts reflect the period's interest in narrative illumination by considerably ramping up Gower's basic two-part illustration program. Gower's interest in his legacy and continuing reputation is represented again by a focus on mortuary issues unusual for poets of the time.
