Customer Reviews

Morte d' Arthur (Collector's Library Editions)

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I searched for years for a volume that would contain Malory's text and Beardsley's Illustrations. Most of the time, I would run into Keith Baine's modern rendering, which is excellent but meant as a supplement. I would also find Steinbeck's frustrating unfinished work which started as translation and ended in a stilted interpretation. A real pity since Steinbeck's other works are brilliant. Both these aforementioned popular volumes are based on the Winchester manuscript. What I really wanted to read is exactly what we have here: Caxton's version. Yet, the perfect Malory volume still has yet to appear. One with plenty of notes like the annotated Alice in Wonderland, or the notes found in the Oxford edition of Malory, also based on the Winchester manuscript as an abridgment with some wonderful notes that prove extremely helpful.

This library edition seems to be an import from England and would make a beautiful gift to an Arthurian buff, even if he/she owns previous various editions of Malory. However, the text itself of this particular collector's library edition has seemingly endless paragraphs where it can be challenging to know where one dialogue ends and the other begins. I would not recommend it for one's first undertaking of the work. Some formatting while retaining the haunting archaic tone along with the bountiful illustrations by Beardsley and some notes would make this a definitive Caxton's Malory edition. This is a coffee sized volume with a cheap looking dust jacket that gives no justice to the appeal within. Upon opening it, Beardsley's drawing bring this tome to life. Beardsley's renderings have an ethereal atmosphere about them. it gives the whole work a flavor, kind of like a favorite film. I thank the publishers for bringing this edition to the market and making it affordable. If I had any powers, I would make the improvements that would make this more accessible to a modern reader, with dialogue breaks and annotations like the Oxford edition.

In short this is a beautiful tome well worth enjoying. A "must" for Malory readers who perhaps have already read through a few of the other edits, abridgments and modern retellings that have spilled over from time to time.Morte d' Arthur (Collector's Library Editions)