Malory, Sir Thomas Books

Le Morte D'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table (Signet Classics)

Sir Thomas Malory

Amazon Price: $7.95 List Price: $7.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Signet Classics Amazon Marketplace: 70 new & used starting at $2.23

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( G ) -> Graves, Robert
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> Malory, Sir Thomas
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Classics -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 69 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Signet translation much better than others 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I bought this Signet translation by Keith Baines after a frustrating attempt to read the Modern Library translation by William Caxton. Caxton's dry, stilted rendition left me hungry for a cleaner, more modern version.

Here's a prime example from page 1:

Caxton: "It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon, when he was king of all England, and so reigned, that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time. And the duke was called the Duke of Tintagil. And so by means King Uther sent for this duke, charging him to bring his wife with him, for she was called a fair lady, and a passing wise, and her name was called Igraine."

Baines: "King Uther Pendragon, ruler of all Britain, had been at war for many years with the Duke of Tintagil in Cornwall when he was told of the beauty of Lady Igraine, the duke's wife."

If Caxton was my high school English teacher demanding that I diagram his sentences, I might forthwith set myself through with mine dagger most deadly.

Anyway, if you just want to enjoy the Arthurian tales in their cleanest English version, buy Signet's paperback. It's also half the price of other translations.

Happy reading!

Editorial Review:

From the incredible wizardry of Merlin to the undeniable passion of Sir Launcelot, these tales of Arthur and his knights offer epic adventures with the supernatural-as well as timeless battles with our own humanity.

King Arthur and His Knights: Selected Tales

Thomas Malory

Amazon Price: $17.99 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 86 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Popular Characters -> Book Characters -> King Arthur
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Science, Nature & How It Works -> Math -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Science, Nature & How It Works -> Math -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A Good Introduction to Malory 4 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

I've used this text to teach upper-division college classes on the Arthurian legend, and I'd say that this is the best text for that purpose.

First, although there are some useful and interesting tales missing (such as the tale of Sir Lancelot, and the tale of Sir Gareth), most the the truly vital ones are there -- and the death of Arthur is presented in its entirety.

Second, Vinaver DOES modernize the spelling. But you can't modernize the spelling of an archaic word and, since he is NOT writing a translation but providing a modern-spelling edition, he simply standardizes the spelling of the archaic words and provides a gloss on each one. This is much more useful than the banal translations by Keith Barnes and Richard Barber (Legends of Arthur, from Boydell and Brewer).

This edition is the best way to get used to Malory's beautiful style without having to figure out Middle English spellings (which isn't really very difficult in Malory's case). It's a well organized book, and makes Malory appealing without compromising on the language -- which is one of Malory's greatest facets.

The only problem I have with this text is Vinaver's insistence on re-ordering the tales according to Malory's French originals. "The Knight of the Cart" should be presented AFTER "The Poisoned Apple," and certainly not before the Quest of the Holy Grail. It makes much better sense where Malory put it, where it shows Lanbcelot's deteriorating morals as his relationship with Guenever intensifies. Also, I'd like to see either more from the Quest for the Holy Grail, or nothing at all. The tiny fragment of the story presented here is almost incomprehensible to first-time readers.

Editorial Review:

This thoroughly readable collection of Malory's famous stories of King Arthur includes the familiar legends, plots, exploits, and characters which have become part of the cultural tradition of the English-speaking world.

Le Morte D'Arthur (Collector's Library Editions)

Sir Thomas Malory

List Price: $20.65 By: CRW Publishing Limited Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $36.47

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> Malory, Sir Thomas
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General -> General AAS
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General AAS

Malory: Complete Works

Thomas Malory

Amazon Price: $40.45 List Price: $44.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $1.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> Malory, Sir Thomas
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Classics -> General AAS
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Historical

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Ian Myles Slater on: Worthwhile Malorys, Not For All 5 out of 5 stars.
37 of 38 people found this review helpful.

This is mainly a review of two related editions of the work commonly known as "Le Morte D'Arthur" (Anglo-Norman French for "The Death of [King] Arthur). One is Eugene Vinaver's "Malory: Complete Works," the title of which will be explained shortly. The other is the Norton Critical Edition, as "Le Morte D'Arthur" -- an admirable book, but not for all readers; as also explained below, the text has some striking visual differences from the usual modern book, which some may find too difficult. Both are original-spelling editions of the fifteenth-century text, in what can be called either very late Middle English, or very early Modern English; other, easier-to-read, editions will also be mentioned below.

Until a mis-catalogued fifteenth-century manuscript in a safe at Winchester College was finally recognized in 1934 as Sir Thomas Malory's account of King Arthur and his knights, the only authoritative text of this now-famous work was that found in the two surviving copies of William Caxton's 1485 printing. Unhappily, its first and last pages are missing, so Caxton remains the source for those passages. (The standard exact, or "diplomatic," text of Caxton's Malory was edited by H. Oskar Sommers, 1889-1891. There is a recent critical text, edited by James Spisak, 1983, and a facsimile edition, edited by Paul Needham, 1976.) There are thousands of minor differences, and a few very large ones.

Caxton had divided the text into twenty-one books, with numbered and (usually) titled chapters, and called the whole "Le Morte D'Arthur" -- "Notwithstanding that it treateth of the birth, life, and acts of the said King Arthur, of his noble knights of the Round Table, their marvelous enquests and adventures, the achieving of the Sangrail, and in the end the dolorous death and departing out of this world of them all" (Caxton's Colophon). He had also dramatically abridged one long section (his Book Five), and seems to have made some changes of his own in wording, sometimes softening Malory's aristocratic bluntness. When Eugene Vinaver edited the Winchester Manuscript for the Oxford English Texts series, he gave the three-volume set (with critical notes, glossary, etc.) the title of "The Works of Sir Thomas Malory" (1947; revised edition, 1967; third edition, re-edited by P.J.C. Field, 1990).

In Vinaver's eyes, the manuscript revealed that Malory had produced only a very loosely connected set of narratives, distinct "WORKS" to which he, as editor, gave his own titles (which are now in current use, despite the lack of any other authority for some). The idea of a single, continuous, narrative was, in this view, Caxton's; hence the many inconsistencies, such as dead villains showing up alive and still wicked after a few "books." This decision has given rise to a long critical controversy; Malory was, in Caxton's term, "reducing" some disparate French texts into English, and may have just missed some discrepancies, as he tried to produce a reasonably unified "whole book". It has also created a certain amount of bibliographic confusion.

Keith Baines' "Rendition in Modern English" of Vinaver's edition (1962; a rewriting, covering every incident, but mostly sacrificing the language) is carefully called "Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table," as if to emphasize that Caxton's "interference" is being removed, without sacrificing reader recognition (and sales). Vinaver's later Oxford Standard Authors one-volume original-spelling text edition (1971), however, is "Malory: Complete Works." Vinaver also edited for Oxford University Press a modernized-spelling "King Arthur and His Knights: Selected Tales by Sir Thomas Malory" (1956, 1968, 1975), which maintained the same premise. John Steinbeck, a great admirer of Malory, was delighted by Vinaver's edition, and referenced the Winchester Manuscript in the subtitle of his unfinished "Acts of King Arthur ...," avoiding the "Morte" designation. (This is in fact an Arthurian novel by Steinbeck, incorporating chunks of source material, *not* a modernization.) Thus far, there is a certain amount of consistency.

However, a more recent Oxford edition, Helen Cooper's modernized spelling edition of the Winchester text for The Oxford World's Classics (1998; abridged, unfortunately; otherwise excellent), is instead titled "Le Morte D'Arthur." So, too, is the medievalist R.M. Lumiansky's much more extensively modernized 1982 complete version of the Winchester text. (Almost a translation, and thus an implied commentary on the text; but not to be confused with Lumiansky's projected, and unpublished, critical edition, almost complete at the time of his death in 1987. But is quite impressive, and I can understand anyone who thinks I am too critical of it.) The title of the facsimile edition for the Early English Text Society (N.R. Ker, 1976) "The Winchester Malory," avoided the issue, but the volume also helped renew the debate over Vinaver's theory by eliminating his editorial hand.

Stephen H. A. Shepherd's Norton Critical Edition is "Le Morte D'Arthur" on the cover, but on the title page has the Caxton-derived subtitle of "The Hoole Book of Kyng Arthur and of His Noble Knyghtes of The Rounde Table." This title may well go back to Malory, or least to the manuscripts; it would have appeared on the missing final pages. Shepherd, indeed, gives considerably more weight to Caxton's evidence than has been customary. It has become clear, from printer's marks, that the Winchester Manuscript was in fact available to Caxton, and was still on hand when his successor, Wynkyn de Worde, reset the "Morte" in 1498, introducing some of its readings. This suggests that Caxton was comparing at least two manuscripts, and that some of his "innovations" may reflect Malory's intentions as much as any other scribal copy.

The one-volume Oxford "Malory: Complete Works" is a rather bare-bones edition (especially compared to its three-volume prototype), consisting almost entirely of a very lightly "normalized" text (abbreviations are silently expanded, but variant spellings are usually preserved, etc.), with some good textual notes and a glossary (about a hundred pages of "apparatus"). In the Norton Critical Edition, Shepherd offers the reader an extended Introduction, Chronologies, a text with explanatory footnotes, a large section of "Sources" (earlier and / or alternative versions of Arthurian stories, many translated by Shepherd) and "Backgrounds" (contemporary medieval documents and modern histories illustrating Malory's times) and "Criticism" (essays and book excerpts), followed by a thirty-two-page double-column Glossary, a "Selected Guide to Proper Names," and a Selected Bibliography. (There is also a website, accessible through W.W. Norton's main page; it lists printing errors, and reports that the corrections of those identified have now been made in a second printing.)

Shepherd's text itself includes more of Caxton's readings, which seem to reflect another manuscript with different errors; and manuscript is the crucial word. Unlike Vinaver, who attempted to reproduce what he regarded as Malory's intended structure (or non-structure), Shepherd aims to create the impression of reading a medieval manuscript, without the most difficult obstacles. Not only are original spellings preserved, he carefully includes marginal notes and other indicators of scribal practices. The two scribes of the Winchester Manuscript carefully (but not completely consistently) wrote names, and some passages, in red ink ("rubrications"). Shepherd does not ask the printer for two colors, but follows the practice of "Scribe A" in using a more ornate script for the rubrics, substituting a black-letter font, so these words stand out; in some cases, following the scribes' use of larger lettering, they are printed in an extra-bold face.

Shepherd has some sensible solutions -- not identical to Vinaver's -- to such problems as character variation ('u' and 'v' and 'i' and 'j' had yet to settle into their modern restrictions, for example), erratic word divisions, and punctuating sentences whose beginning and / or end is not clearly marked. [A recent review by Jim Allan, posted on the "Le Morte Darthur" side, elegantly summarizes Shepherd's approach to these and other problems.]

This does not make for easy reading; it does reproduce, as nearly as possible in a printed book, and with modern typefaces, the experience of reading a medieval book -- which is the point of the exercise. As someone who once pored over the facsimile of the Winchester Manuscript without being able to make out much from the fifteenth-century handwriting, I love it. And it is not Shepherd's eccentric decision. It is part of a renewed appreciation for the medieval book as a physical artifact, not a sort of nuisance to be made transparent by modern typography.

However, with their 'olde spellynges' and other peculiarities, neither the Oxford Standard Authors version nor the Norton Critical Edition is suitable for all readers. Although Lumiansky's version comes close, there is still a need for a *complete* "normalized" edition based on the Winchester text, only very lightly modernized as to spelling, and faithfully preserving the original words and sentence structures.

Editorial Review:

This single-volume edition of the complete works of Sir Thomas Malory retains his 15th-century English while providing an introduction, glossary, and fifty pages of explanatory notes on each romance.

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (Illustrated Junior Library)

Sir Thomas Malory

Amazon Price: $14.24 List Price: $18.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Grosset & Dunlap Amazon Marketplace: 106 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Classics by Age -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths -> Arthurian
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

King Arthur and His Knights of The Round Table 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is full of adventures of the many Knights of the Round Table. The stories are in full detail of their quests to serve King Arthur and the people of Logres. It describes their victories as well as their defeats.
A moral the story teaches is that if we blind ourselves with what is wrong and sinful, we will not get to be our full potential. We learn this by watching how Sir Launcelot lives his life. He was the greatest Knight in the world and was admired by every damsel in the land. Sir Launcelot was supposed to be the Knight to recover the Holy Grail and he never does this, because he allows himself to be involved in a sinful relationship with Queen Guinevere, King Arthur's Queen.
My favorite Knight was Sir Galahad, who was Sir Launcelot's son. Sir Galahad alone was the only one worthy to drink from the Holy Grail.
The book has a great story and I recommend it to anyone who loves medieval tales.

Editorial Review:

A legend is born when young Arthur meets Merlin and draws the mighty sword from its stone. This spellbinding retelling brings to life King Arthur and the adventures of his Knights, from the quest for the Holy Grail to the final tragedy of the Last Battle.

Le Morte D'Arthur - Volume I

Thomas Malory

Amazon Price: $11.65 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hyperion Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $1.76

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> Malory, Sir Thomas
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Classics -> Medieval
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Classics -> General AAS

Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur's Chronicler

Christina Hardyment

Amazon Price: $18.95 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harper Perennial Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $1.73

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Arts & Literature -> Authors
Subjects -> History -> Europe -> General
Subjects -> History -> Europe -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Virtually all modern versions of the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are derived from a single book: Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1469), one of the world's most renowned literary works. Yet the author, a fifteenth-century knight, has remained an enigma for centuries. Existing historical records imply that Malory was a criminal—accused of rape, ambush, rustling, and attacks on abbeys—and was imprisoned for most of his life.

Using evidence from new historical research and deductions from the only known manuscript copy of Malory's celebrated work, Christina Hardyment brilliantly resolves the contradictions about an extraordinary man and a life marked equally by great achievement and devastating disgrace. Malory is the fascinating chronicle of a loyal soldier enmeshed in the tangled politics of the Wars of the Roses. It is the story of a connoisseur of literature and exemplary writer who created a masterpiece meant to inspire princes and knights to high endeavors and noble acts.

Le Morte Darthur

Thomas Malory

Amazon Price: $15.56 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Boomer Books Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $12.92

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> Malory, Sir Thomas
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> Mythology -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> Mythology -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

Sir Thomas Malory, a knight of the fifteenth century, collected and compiled all the legends and songs surrounding the pre-Christian Welsh chieftain Arthur into a fascinating, rambling prose narrative, Le Morte Darthur (The Death of Arthur). Since then, it has inspired numerous authors and artists while becoming the principal source for today's notions of chivalry and the Knights of the Round Table. This book is a must-read for anyone with even a remote interest in Arthurian lore. This publication from Boomer Books is specially designed and typeset for comfortable reading.

King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table

Amazon Price: $3.99 List Price: $3.99 Usually ships in 7 to 11 days By: Modern Pub Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Classics by Age -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

a great into to King A 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

A great introduction to King Arthur. Rich language and illustrations. Abbreviated versions of the most famous King Arthur stories. Graphic novel format, but illustrations are high quality.

Editorial Review:

A retelling of a classic story featuring the heroic deeds of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Illustrated in colour with strip-cartoons.

The Boy's King Arthur

Thomas Malory, Sidney Lanier, N.C. Wyeth

List Price: $28.00 By: Atheneum Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $2.49

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( W ) -> Wyeth, N.C.

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Story Of King Arthur and His Knights 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

N.C. Wyeth illustrated the book of "The Boy's King Arthur"in 1917. The Boy's King Arthur, is avout the top main knights such as, Lancelot, and how they become a knight. This story exists as part of the original King Arthur stories, but it becomes shorter than the original. Also in The Boys King Arthur, you will encounter how knights acted back in the fourth century.
The author of this story uses more details, and more unique, and unusual things than the original story. The battle with Mordred and Arthur at the end, I considered that to be an extremely unique fight, because Mordred becomes a traitor to his own father, Arthur. Unusually, N.C. Wyeth adds old English in the ways of back then in the story. The Narrator of The Boys King Arthur remains just an outsider of the story. The main setting of the novel places in England, and the themes of the novel, exists as just how peasents and people become the top Knights of the Round Table. (Lancelot, Tristram, Galahad, Percival, and the fair maid of Astolat) Also the story illustrates how King Arthur becomes King of England, And his death.
I recommend that people should read this book only if they're thirteen and up. Also I recommend that you should read The Boys King Arthur only if you read the original version of King Arthur. I say this because the book remains in old English, and might be quite hard to understand. I thought this book is quite hard to understand of the old English, and the length of the book with the old English.

Editorial Review:

This handsome volume features text reset in the original typeface and illustrations newly reproduced from Wyeth's original canvases, bringing a beloved classic to a whole new generation of readers. 14 full-color illustrations.