Le Morte D'Arthur
by
Sir Thomas Malory
Vol. 2
Published J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
London ( England )
1912
Printed by The Temple Press , Letchworth ( England )
Hardcover binding.
Blue cloth over boards, gold decorated spine.
Decorated endpapers.
4 1/4" x 6 3/4"
411 pages.
Glossary of Archaic English Words at the rear.
110 years old.
Stories of King Arthur , the Knights of the Round Table , Queen Guinevere , Camelot , Sir Lancelot , Sir Galahad , The Quest of the Holy Grail , etc., etc., as told in " Le Morte D' Arthur " , by Sir Thomas Malory (ca. 1405-1471 A.D. )
Concludes with King Arthur's battle with Sir Mordred , Arthur's mortal wounding and death , the fate of the sword Excalibur , and the aftermath.
This is volume 2 ( of 2 ), only.
Set in England , Wales and Scotland , the tales of the Arthurian Legend are the epitome of the medieval concept of chivalry and nobility.
Malory's tales were composed in the early Renaissance era, and are a far purer version of these ancient legends than often found in more modern renderings.
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Condition.
Light wear to the binding, some binding staining.
The hinges are tight.
Early 1900's owner's name at the front, in old ink :
" W. N. Hughes , '17 , Brown University , 24 Middle Hope ( College ) "
Also, " Marion's Sister " in pencil.
No other writing.
No markings.
A little page staining at the rear, after the Glossary of archaic English words.
A few text pages have a small corner crease.
The pages are otherwise in good condition.
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Carefully packed for shipment to the buyer.
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Biographical Information:
Sir Thomas Malory (ca.1405-1471 A.D.)
Sir Thomas Malory (also Mallory ) is generally credited as the author of "Le Mort d'Arthur" (also " Le Mort Darthur " and " The Death of Arthur ").
Little is known about his life but he is thought to be a knight from Wales or Warwickshire. "Le More d'Arthur" is among the greatest Middle English prose epics. It draws from early French writings, British sources, and Malory's own original additions. It is written in a simple style with a melodic rhythm and tells the story of Arthur, King of the Britons and the Knights of the Round Table .
Sir Thomas Malory (c.1405 - 1471) was the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholarship and this article assumes that he was Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire. The surname appears in various spellings, including those of Maillorie and Maleore.
Few facts are certain in Malory's history. From his own words he is known to have been a knight and prisoner, and his description of himself as "a servant of Jesu both day and night" has led to the inference that he might have been a priest. It is believed that he was knighted in 1442 and entered the British Parliament representing Warwickshire in 1445.
In 1450, it appears that he turned towards a life of crime, being accused of murder, robbery, stealing, poaching, and rape. Supposedly while imprisoned for most of the 1450s (mostly in London's Newgate Prison), he began writing an Arthurian legend that he called The Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table. Little else is known of Malory's life, but he is believed to have been a Lancastrian during the Wars of the Roses. His work was first published posthumously by William Caxton as Le Morte d'Arthur in 1485.
Malory is believed to have obtained the material for his work from a French source. In the preface to the first edition of the Le Morte D'Arthur, William Caxton speaks of the work as printed by himself "after a copy unto me delivered, which copy Sir Thomas Malory did take out of certain books of French, and reduced it into English."
During his life and immediately after, England was also in a state of internal conflict. Malory tells us that he finished writing the book in the ninth year of the reign of King Edward IV (i.e., between March, 1469, and March, 1470). In 1469 the earl of Warwick had turned on his old master, Edward IV; then Warwick and Clarence brought Henry VI back to the throne.
During the king's short restoration, Sir Thomas Malory died on 12th March 1471, probably in Newgate Prison ( London England ).
He was buried in the nearby Friary Church of St. Francis beneath a marble tomb.
Le Morte D'Arthur brought together the various strands of the legend in a prose romance which many critics reckon the best of its kind.