This essay looks at Chaucer’s fortunes from the early Victorian period to modernity, beginning with the relatively stagnant state of Chaucer studies at the beginning of Victoria’s reign and going on to the renewed scholarly interest of the second half of the century, which led to the first modern scholarly edition in the 1890s. The essay pauses with the Edwardian period, where versions of Chaucer in both scholarly and popular domains are considered, and then concludes with a summary of Chaucer reception between World War I and the present day, with a particular emphasis on criticism and editing. In the 1840s, there was hardly any Chaucer scholarship as currently understood, and very little popular reception of the poet. In this essay I examine the burgeoning of the poet’s reputation since then. But I also consider the limitations of that reputation and the contrast with, for example, the popular understanding of Shakespeare.