Other Fiction Malory, Sir Thomas: The Romance of King Arthur (illus-Rackham). v1. 16 Jan 2020

[GrannyGrump]

The romance of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table

From “Le Morte d’Arthur” by Sir Thomas Malory (c. 1415–1471)

Abridged and edited by Alfred W. Pollard (1859–1944)
Illustrated by Arthur Rackham (1867–1939)
With a glossary provided by Alfred Pollard

Here are tales from legendary times: the stories of King Arthur and his knights, of Merlin, of Tristram and Isoud, of Launcelot and Guenever, of Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail. Ah… names to conjure thoughts of conflict, chivalry, and romance.

This book is not an easy read: it is presented in the original archaic language (although Pollard does include a glossary to help the reader along). The wonderful Arthur Rackham illustrations are a joy, and all by themselves would make this a worthy addition to your library.

* * * *
Arthur Pendragon was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. The details of Arthur’s story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and modern historians generally agree that he is not historical.

In the 1460’s, Sir Thomas Malory compiled, translated, and edited Arthurian tales and legends from earlier sources. His book, Le Morte d’Arthur, published in 1485, is the basis for the vast literature concerning the Arthurian legend. (Malory’s identity has never been confirmed, but the likeliest candidate is Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire: country gentleman, soldier, and professional criminal. For some more information, see the British Library article: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/englit/malory/

To create The Romance of King Arthur, Alfred W. Pollard, English bibliographer and scholar, abridged and edited Malory’s work to “clear away some of the underwood that the great trees may be better seen, and though I know that I have cleared away some small timber that is fine stuff in itself, if the great trees stand out the better, the experiment may be forgiven.”

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Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur was first published in 1485. The Romance of King Arthur, the abridgement by Alfred Pollard with illustrations by Arthur Rackham, was first published in 1917.
This ebook is in the public domain where copyright is “Life+70” or less, and in the USA.
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[JSWolf]

Very nice. Thank you.

[doubleshuffle]

Splendid. Thanks a lot!

[Calenorn]

Thank you!

Another masterpiece. GrannyGrump is an artist! Check out her other efforts here.

[hobnail]

Amazing and wonderful job. Much appreciated.

In file rka04.xhtml there's a typo in the title; Of Sir Trisrtam.

[GrannyGrump]

Hello to all, and thank you all for the very kind words!

It was an... interesting project. Spellcheck definitely was no help for proofreading. And now I know a lot of archaic words and phrases I will never need again.

@hobnail, thanks for the heads-up, I will post a correction soon.