La Morte D'Arthur

MALORY, Sir Thomas

Edité par London: Printed and Published by R. Wilks, 1816

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The 'Eighth' Edition of Sir Thomas Malory's "King Arthur" MALORY, Sir Thomas. La Morte D'Arthur. The most Ancient and Famous History of the Renowned Prince Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. By Sir Thomas Malory Knt. London: Printed and Published by R. Wilks, 1816. Technically the eighth edition of the English epic, preceded only by the editions of 1485, 1498, 1529, 1557, 1578, 1634 and the two volume Walker and Edwards 1816 edition, all but the last two virtually unobtainable. Three twelvemo volumes (4 7/8 x 2 3/4 inches; 124 x 70 mm.). xxiv, iv, [25]-320, 109-110, 111*-114*, [2, blank], 321-326 pp. Folding plate of King Arthur and his Valiant Knights of the Round Table facing p. [19]; xv, [1, blank], [17]-381, [1, blank pp.; xvi, [17]-377, [1, blank], ([379]-384 Beauties of Nature and Art). Each volume with engraved frontispiece and added engraved title. pp. 69/72 in volume 1 with small piece torn from outer margin just affecting a few letters. A few leaves with very small pieces missing (paper-faults) from outer blank margins not affecting text. Nineteenth century half tan calf over marbled boards decoratively ruled in blind. Spines with four shallow raised bands, decoratively tooled in compartments, black calf labels lettered in gilt, pale brown endpapers, all edges mottled brown. Inner hinges professionally reinforced. Some minor water-staining to blank preliminary and endleaves of all volumes; Early Ink names on front free endpaper of volume 1 and first blank leaves of volumes 1 & 2; Minor foxing to engraved titles and frontispieces. Overall a very good set housed in a marbled board slipcase. This was the second publication of Malory's Morte d'Arthur since the Stansby edition of 1634 (and the second to be modernized to Jacobean standards). It responded to the passage of 182 years without an edition in print and a resulting demand that produced two competing editions in 1816 (the other edition is nearly identical to this one except that it was published in two volumes). No bibliography addresses the priority of the 1816 editions. However, the preface of the three-volume edition rails against the competition of this edition, to it's unimaginable that the two volume edition didn't already exist in the marketplace to stimulate the attack. "The first printing of Malory's work was made by Caxton in 1485; it proved popular, and was reprinted, with some additions and changes, in 1498 and 1529 by Wynkyn de Worde who succeeded to Caxton's press. Three more editions followed at intervals down to the time of the English Civil War: William Copland's (1557), Thomas East's (1585), and William Stansby's (1634), each of which manifested additional changes and errors (including the omission of an entire leaf). Thereafter the book went out of fashion until the time of the Romantic revival of interest in all things medieval; the year 1816 saw a new edition by Walker and Edwards, and another one by Wilks, both based on the 1634 Stansby edition" Le Morte d'Arthur (originally le morte Darthur, meaning "The Death of Arthur" in Anglo-Norman French) is a 15th-century Middle English prose compilation by Sir Thomas Malory, retelling the legendary tales of King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table. To create a comprehensive narrative of Arthur's life - from his birth to his death - Malory collected, adapted, and restructured material from various French and English sources. Today, it remains one of the most famous works of Arthurian literature, serving as a primary reference for numerous writers since the 19th-century resurgence of the legend. Believed to have been written in prison during the late medieval period, Le Morte d'Arthur was completed around 1470 and first printed in 1485 by William Caxton. For centuries, the 1485 edition was regarded as the earliest known text until the discovery of the Winchester Manuscript in 1934. Modern editions, published under various titles, often modify the text by upda.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: La Morte D'Arthur
• Éditeur: London: Printed and Published by R. Wilks, 1816
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Books into Film
  • English Literature
  • Arthurian Legend