Omnibus Edition) (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classic Collection)

I saw this gorgeous leatherbound edition at Barnes and Noble and purchased it since I also happen to collect the leatherbound classics published by B&N. This particular edition is exquisite (as are most of the B&N leatherbound classics) with gilt decorations and a beautiful illustrated frontispiece that is raised. There is a satin ribbon page marker and gilt pages. The contents are not abridged and contain all twenty-one books. As an added bonus, the entire book is peppered throughout with illustrations by the eminent illustrator Arthur Rackham. If you love stories of King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table and enjoy collecting lovely leatherbound editions, you can't go wrong with this.

1909 Dent updated English, muddy reproductions of Rackham's color illustrations. Don't buy at $29. If you are looking for the best modern English renditions, go with Lumiansky or the Penguin editions. The Oxford edition is gracefully translated into Modern English, but is abridged. If you like the Rackham illustrations, they can be found as color plates in other books.

The Edition: Attractively bound and printed, with a good font, and excellent supplements and forewords, etc. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful, and everything adds up to making THIS the greatest edition of Thomas Malory's peerless classic Le Morte D'Arthur (French for: The Death of Arthur...er...spoilers?).

The Book: As a huge fan of classic tales and songs - The Kalevela, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Mabinogion, Le Morte D'Arthur was on the top of my reading list. It's influence on fantasy and Arthurian legends in general CANNOT be underestimated. It's the granddaddy of them all!

Combining all the best tales, now the stuff of legend - from Arthur's birth, the sword in the stone, Guinevere, Excalibur, the Lady in the Lake, The Round Table, Camelot, Merlin, Lancelot, Tristram, Galahad, Gawain, Morgana le Fay, The Holy Grail, the death of *Spoiler Guinevere, and finally, the actual Morte d'Arthur, and the beautiful Avalon.

Rarely has there been a figure so known and loved, researched, and pored over, parodied, respected, reinterpreted, fantasized, mythologized, and made so legendary as King Arthur! Rarely has so much legend and rich history been brought together in one book! THIS is the definitive guide to the mysterious, fanciful, lush, beautiful, dangerous world of King Arthur of Camelot, king of the Britons!

You're not going to have this much fun for a long time!

Strongest Recommendation! 5 Stars!

The Norton Critical Edition of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur edited by Stephen H. A. Shepherd partly replaces Eugène Vinaver's The Works of Sir Thomas Malory and is in many ways a better effort.

This edition stands somewhere between a scholarly, critical edition and a popular edition. It is based mainly on the Winchester manucript with emendations and additions from Caxton's 14th century printed version. Abbreviations are expanded, major (but not minor) corrections of the text are noted, the obsolete characters thorn and yogh are replaced by modern letters, use of u and v, i and j follow modern usage. and word division, punctuation, and capitalization also edited to follow modern conventions, including use of quotation marks.

But otherwise spelling is not modernized, large capitals in the manuscript are indicated in the printed text by lombardic capitals of approximately the same relative size, paragraphing is mostly followed exactly (with even the // paragraph break marks being rendered by indentation followed by the symbol ¶) and further paragraphing without ¶ where other punctuation or capitalization anomalies indicate sectioning. Vinaver's edition became, eventually, notorious for ignoring the divisions given within the manuscript itself, an especially unfortunate defect since Vinaver's theories about Malory's composition supposedly depended on paying especially close attention to such matters.

In the mansucript, rubricating (that is, red lettering) was employed in scribing almost all personal names as well as on some other names and in marginal notes and is here represented by a black-letter font. One quickly becomes used to this odd convention which actually eases and clarifies reading to the point that one wonders why something like it should not be universally adopted.

And, most pleasantly for a modern book, the notes appear as true footnotes, not endnotes, which means no constant turning of pages.

The text itself is followed by over 200 pages of related source material and reprinted essays, followed by a glossary, a selected guide to proper names, and a bibliography, but, rather oddly, no index.

For any general reader willing to encounter fifteenth century spelling on its own terms and to delight in it, this is probably the best edition to own and use, one which brings the user closer to the Winchester manuscript than any previous edition.

As to the tale itself, Malory himself sometimes seems bored and unitenested in his material, especially in the massive maze of subsidiary episodes that make up his Tristram material. But at his best there is no writer in English who campares with him. Readers having difficulty with the early sections of any edition of Malory's Le Morte Darthur might try jumping to "The Tale of Sir Launcelot and Quene Gwenyvere" (Book XVIII in Caxton's edition) and start at that point, where a mature Malory in control of this story tells it better than anyone before or after.

I've enjoyed reading this book but have issues with formatting. In fact, I'm beginning to get a little peeved with typos in digital books in general.

In Mobi's Le Mort d'Arthur, each Chapter has a heading and description. For example, chapter 11 looks like this:

"Chapter XI" (larger, bolded and centered)
"Of a great tourney made by King Arthur and the two
kings Ban and Bors, and how they went over the sea."

This is followed by the chapter itself. Then, somewhere in the middle of chapter 11 is "...and smote him down horse and man, where CH. XI TOURNEY MADE BY KING ARTHUR fore Sir Griflet was wroth,..." Honestly, a little proofreading would have brought this to anyone's attention.

With archaic language in an unfamiliar book, I can't help but wonder if something else less obvious is missing or added or even just misspelled. But most disconcerting, it reveals a basic problem with digital books - I could get a flawed or altered book and not know it.

I would really like to see publishers take a little more pride in their work.

This 1962 translation of Sir Thomas Malory's account of the King Arthur legend has many things to recommend it. Robert Graves, a historical novelist of just renown, writes an introduction telling us about Malory's life, the good, the bad and the ugly. We get the benefit of Graves' scholarship as well as his authorly insight. Malory, born a gentleman, was a Member of Parliament for Warwickshire in 1445, but he turned rogue and robber five years later and was imprisoned in Newgate. There he languished, wrote this collection of tales about King Arthur and there he died.

The text is a pleasure to read. Keith Baines has walked a narrow line with razor sharp accuracy. He gives us the action in clear, crisp language that contains no jarring anachronisms. This is important because the ornamental nature of Malory's fifteenth century prose is a two-edged sword. Despite the beauty of the prose, it's heavy going for a modern reader.

The importance of Sir Thomas Malory's work can hardly be overstated. Writing in the fifteenth century, he still had access to earlier works and oral legends that have been lost to later ages. In Malory's work, the legend of Arthur becomes codified into the romantic love triangle of king-queen-leading knight that still inspires a diverse collection of writers. Every era sees a definitive retelling of this story changing the emphasis and details to make King Arthur forever young.

I love this edition and it grieves me to see that it is out of print and has become a rarity. Some copyright hindrance must be the issue as this book does not lack in excellence.

The earlier rendition by Keith Baines of Mallory's classic work, 'Le Morte d'Arthur', went out of print, but the demand was such that there was bound to be a press that would pick it up. All hail to Signet for doing so here! They have taken the old text and reprinted it, practically as a photo-stat. Even the pagination has remained the same, but the print face is a bit cleaner than the older copy in a side-by-side comparison (I purchased the Signet edition, thinking it was a revision, when I already had the older Baines edition -- they are the same).
Sir Thomas Mallory was a great one to write the adventures of King Arthur and his knights - a knight himself, he led a life of intrigue and adventure, albeit not one that always lived up to the ideas of chivalry he penned at the heart of the Arthurian legends. Mallory did not invent Arthur; he is one of the principle medieval chroniclers, having time (he was in prison with nothing else to do, after all) to set down in prose stories he'd heard throughout his life. These were popular tales, not always told in the same way with the same details, as is true of most oral legends and transmitted stories, much to the later frustration of scholars and readers. The earliest printing of Mallory's stories had his authorship suppressed by Caxton, one of the better-known publishers of the time.
The earliest Arthurian legends date back as far as the late Roman times in Britain. Controversies abound, but many have settled on a late Roman or Romano-British general named Arturius - however, given the linguistic nature of the name (it is derivative of ruler or leader), it is impossible to know if this was in fact a name or a title, and the legends may be compilations of the acts of many leaders bearing the name. There was also a Welsh leader with the name/title Arddu, `Dark One', who is sometimes conflated into Arthurian legend. Arthur was celebrated in the pre-Norman times for the order and stability he represented; Arthur was celebrated in post-Norman times for his campaigns against Saxons. Arthur continues to be an intriguing character, today reminiscent of ancient mysteries as well as pagan and new age ideas as well.
In any event, Mallory doesn't attach specific dates to his tales. The book actually consists of many tales. The first is entitled `The Tale of King Arthur', which introduces the figures of Merlin, Gawain, Uwayne, Pellinore, Morgan le Fay (the Celtic war goddess Morgana, dressed up as Arthur's sister) and others, and includes the sword-in-the-stone event. While this text has been modernised by Keith Baines, there are certain crucial lines left in Mallory's English, including this most famous one:
Whoso pulleth oute this swerd of this stone and anvyld is rightwys kynge borne of all Brytaygne
Following this tale, Mallory includes many of the famous tales in Arthurian legend as stories more or less complete in themselves, but still linking to the other tales. `The Tale of Sir Lancelot du Lake' is a knight's tale indeed, with no fewer than twenty horseback duels back-to-back. `The Tale of Sir Gareth' is a similar spirited tale, less well known. `The Book of Sir Tristram of Lyoness' makes Tristram and Iseult, famous by other writers as well, into lovers, this time with a more happy ending than usual. The lesser known `Tale of Arthur and Lucius' describes battles and skirmishes with the emperor, but never really captured popular imagination.
Mallory saves the best for last, with three major tales - `The Tale of the Sangreal', the Holy Grail; `The Book of Sir Launcelot and Queen Gwynevere'; and finally, `Le Morte D'Arthur'. The tale of the Holy Grail continues into the present day in various fashions; here is contains strange glosses of the Old and New Testaments, as well as a good number of miracles, as one would expect from the Grail. The last tale, the death of Arthur, is probably the most famous, and the best written.
Even though an English knight, the courtly fashion was after a French design for many centuries after the Norman conquest, and this French influence in notable in the stories, from their titles to their plots and characterisations, including the places Mallory uses.
Keith Baines eliminates a lot of needless dialogue from his rendering here, but keeps the plot lines and sequence of action with integrity from earlier manuscripts and recited tales. His translation compares favourably with others, becoming a fairly standard text for good reason. Robert Graves (of `I Claudius' fame) provides an appreciative introduction to the text. Baines himself was a poet; however, this text, accepted somewhat reluctantly, is probably his best known work.
Arthur lives on into the modern world and beyond. Baines' edition gives it life to carry on, and Signet makes it available.

Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur " is perhaps the best-known version of the Arthurian legends in English. Despite the title, "the death of Arthur", the work does not deal solely with King Arthur's death but rather with the whole of his life and reign. The error appears to have originated with Malory's first publisher William Caxton who applied the title of Malory's final section to the entire work. The book retells some well-known stories from French and English sources, such as the Sword in the Stone, the Quest for the Holy Grail, the romance of Tristan and Isolde, the adulterous love between Lancelot and Guinevere and the death of King Arthur at the hands of the traitor Mordred. One of the book's eight sections, the Tale of Sir Gareth, appears to be Malory's own invention.

The identity of the author is not precisely known. During the time it was being written, during the 1450s and 1460s, there were at least six men named Thomas Malory living in England, but most (although not all) modern scholars attribute the work to Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire. This individual lived from around 1413 to 1470, so would have lived through the latter part of the Hundred Years War as well as the Wars of the Roses. He appears to have been a colourful character who served as an MP for Warwickshire but also served time in prison for various offences including rape and robbery. There is an irony if such a man was indeed the author of Le Morte D'Arthur, as one of the work's major themes is how one might reconcile two of the great preoccupations of the Middle Ages, love of God and love of violence.

There is some doubt as to whether King Arthur ever existed, and to judge from Caxton's preface there were some people who had doubts about his existence even in the 1400s. Malory, however, presents his work as though it were the true story of a real historical figure who lived about a thousand years before his own time. The work is, however, anachronistic in that the society which Malory describes bears a much greater resemblance to that of the fifteenth century than it does to that of the fifth. Malory even makes reference to cannon, even though firearms were only introduced into Europe about a century before his birth. (Mind you, the only character who actually makes use of guns is Mordred. Perhaps Malory saw them as the coward's weapon.)

Indeed, the whole work is based around an anachronism. Although fifth-century societies had warriors, they had no concept of the institution of knighthood or chivalry, something which grew up in the later Middle Ages. This institution may have developed in an attempt to reconcile warfare with Christian ideals. In "Le Morte d'Arthur" these ideals are represented by the Pentecostal Oath sworn by the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur makes his knights swear that they will only fight in a righteous cause, show mercy to defeated opponents, uphold justice, fight against oppression, protect the poor and weak and respect the chastity of women.

A key concept in the book is "honour"- except that Malory generally does not use this Norman-French loanword, preferring the native English "worship", with all its religious connotations. A knight can gain worship by mighty feats of arms, provided they are performed in a worthy cause. A knight will lose worship if he fights in an evil cause or if he fights unfairly, such as by striking an opponent who is wounded or unhorsed.

Yet despite this note of idealism, Malory's vision is at heart a pessimistic one. The only knight who wholly lives up to these ideals is Galahad, who is rewarded with a vision of the Holy Grail but dies young. Galahad's father Lancelot, in other respects a paragon of knighthood, is deemed unworthy because of his adultery with Queen Guinevere, and most of the other knights fall a lot further short of the ideals expressed in the Pentecostal Oath than does Lancelot. Even Arthur himself, although initially presented as a beacon of hope, is far from being an idealised monarch- he fathers a child, for instance, by his own sister. It is the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere which leads to the civil war which devastates the kingdom, to the downfall of the Round Table and to the death of Arthur. Malory was doubtless inspired to write these passages by the civil war which had devastated England in his own lifetime and his message is clear; idealism is doomed to failure by human weakness.

My comments are based upon the Wordsworth edition which modernises the spelling and punctuation but otherwise leaves the text as it was first published by Caxton. The modern reader's main problem with the work is unlikely to be Malory's language- there are only a handful of unfamiliar vocabulary items, and the Wordsworth edition provides a helpful glossary of these- but his long-winded prose style and tendency to repeat himself. Apart from the Holy Grail sequences, which are more like an extended religious allegory, the narrative tends to fall into a very familiar pattern- Knight A rides out, meets Knight B, fights with him, overcomes him and then moves on to a fight with Knight C, which is described in similar terms. Even Malory's similes become repetitive- two knights fighting are generally likened to two wild boars hurtling together, even though these creatures had been extinct in England for around two hundred years at the time he was writing. Malory's passion for informing us exactly how many knights Lancelot or Gawaine unhorsed at some particular tournament recalls that of the football anorak who can recite by heart all Sheffield Wednesday's results from the 1956-57 season.

Some modern editions abridge the text, and I can understand why. "Le Morte D'Arthur" may be the best-known work of English-language Arthurian literature today, but "well-known" does not always equate to "widely read", and I suspect that most readers today will owe their familiarity with the story to a modern retelling. The original, at least in its unabridged form, will probably be of most interest to those with an academic interest in the development of English literature.

Written in the midst of the calamitous Wars of the Roses, Malory's Arthurian epic includes themes of civil turmoil, conflicting loyalties and the supernatural (and other things beyond human understanding). King Arthur himself cannot escape the turning of the Wheel of Fortune, and his quick ascendancy in the beginning eventually leads to his equally sudden plunge into disaster at the end. In between, order returns to the British Isles for a short period in which harmonious cooperation among knights following the code of chivalry bring down traitors and rogues (interestingly enough, Malory himself apparently spent time as an outlaw). Though the tale was based on Celtic and French legends, civil war and imprisonment no doubt influenced Malory in his writing, which in itself became the foundation for nearly all future Arthurian literature.
The Wordsworth Classics edition is not too difficult to read, but the glossary has great room for improvement. Some entries are redundant (with four for the word "orgulous") while others are missing entirely. For a relative new-comer to Arthurian literature like myself, the constant name alterations became a bit confusing as well. Though not a major barrier to the enjoyment of the book, this could have been amended by either annotation or an index of names/recurring characters. All in all, however, it was a wonderful and enjoyable read! No wonder medieval personalities fantasized about imitating Malory's chivalrous knights.

Athe store has lumped together reviews of most available versions and editions of Malory's classic, and it isn't always possible to tell just which one a reviewer is talking about. This review applies solely to the Signet Classic modern-English version by Keith Baines.

Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte D'Arthur" was published in 1485. That was at the very end of the Middle English period. What that means is that the ERnglish that Malory spoke was in many ways closer to Chaucer's than to our own. You can read the original, but you'll need an extensive glossary and a good deal of practice.

Nearly fifty years ago Keith Baines took the somewhat daring step of presenting Malory's proto-novel in Modern English. Baines called his work a "rendition" rather than a "translation" because he has cut out a fair amount of repetition and done a good deal of paraphrasing as well. Nevertheless, the resulting edition faithfully sets out all of the substance and most of the detail of the original in straightforward Modern English. There are no archaic "thees" and "thous," for example, yet, fortunately, Baines makes no attempt to "modernize" the level of diction. His prose therefore sounds appropriately sober without being stilted.

I read the Baines version in high school when there was no way I could have handled Malory's original Middle English. I loved it. Scholars are appropriately annoyed that Baines may have condensed a little too much, but if you're curious enough to delve deeper there's always Janet Cowan's Penguin Classic edition, which just modernizes the spelling, and the Norton edition which meticulously reprints the original and includes a number of academic essays to boot.

By the way, Malory's 1485 narrative of the Arthurian legend is quite a bit different in almost every way from T.H. White's deservedly popular and very humorous "Once and Future King." For one thing, Malory wasn't kidding around. His enduring classic of world literature is serious though filled with wonders. If you're mainly interested in the story, the Baines "rendition" is the best version of "Le Morte D'Arthur" available. (But take the fascinating introduction by poet Robert Graves, author of "Goodbye to All That" and "The White Goddess," with several grains of salt.)

This is not the "prettied up" Victorian (or later) King Arthur full of justice and nobility...at least not by current standards of justice and nobility. This is the story of King Arthur and his knights as translated/adapted/compiled (mostly from much older French manuscripts) by Sir Thomas Malory during the chaotic days of the Wars of the Roses.
Most of the main characters are deeply flawed. This is even true of Arthur who spends most of his "screen time" being manipulated by either Merlin or Sir Gawain. The main character traits which get someone labeled as a "noble/worshipful knight" seem to be:
1. He fights well
2. He fights fairly
3. He speaks courteously
4. He is of noble birth
Possess these four characteristics and just about anything else can be overlooked (the occasional rape, murder, adultery, etc.). Malory does not seem to comment one way or the other on this morality other than in the quest for the Sangreal where only the three (mostly) sinless (and virgin) knights are acceptable to God.

I found the main story arcs interesting, but most of the minor events of which they were composed were repetitive in the extreme. Each story arc was a series of episodes most of which involved the protagonist fighting other random knights at battles, tournaments, or in single combat; sometimes to right a wrong, sometimes just for the sake of fighting. These encounters are all described using the same dozen or so stock phrases. This is a common device in older writing, I think, but it becomes quite tedious after a while. In my opinion, the last third of the book was much more interesting than the preceding 600 or so pages. It described the quest for the Sangreal and the events which led up to the death of Arthur in a much more cohesive manner than the other stories (the story of Sir Tristram and La Beal Isoud which takes up the middle third of the book was especially fragmentary).

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the Arthurian mythos as being closer to the source material than modern retellings, but I do not know whether the average reader would enjoy it or not.

Most everyone has some knowledge of the King Arthur legend. Either they've read it, been exposed to it by Disney or Robert Goulet, or have just heard of it from someone else that knows. So, I'm not recommending this book so much for the text.
The reason why this edition of Le Morte D'Arthur is an absolutely necessary part of any collection is for its stunning illustrations. Anna-Marie Ferguson must have dreamed of Camelot when she was a child for there is simply no other way to explain the attention to detail, the romantic cast to all that we see. As real as Arthur and Lancelot may have seemed to us before, they become infinitely more human in the hands of Ferguson. I never tire of walking to my shelves and pulling out this book to just flip through it. To track my fingertips down the smooth sweep of colors and the beautiful images that really bring Camelot to life.

Thomas Malory's "Morte d'Arthur" is quite literally the "jumping-off place" for anyone who is interested in the legends of King Arthur. This is the book that sets the scene for so many other novels concerning the same characters. Here we are introduced to Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot, The Fisher King ... the "usual" cast of characters. We develop some background understanding of their actions and motivations as a result of Malory's exposition. This particular edition of the tales is translated into modern prose; I own another edition (published in the late 19th C.) that is more heavy going due to the stylized writing. My only caveat on "Morte d'Arthur" is that the tales are not always linear. Sometimes they represent things that are happening simultaneously, which may give the impression of the author jumping back and forth in time. Try not to let that affect your ability to enjoy this classic.

LE MORTRE D'ARTHUR (The Death of Arthur) was written by Sir Thomas Malory while he was imprisoned for some number of years. It was one of the very first times that the Arthurian legend was penned in English. There were some older Latin fragments of the myth floating around, but it's thru Malory's account by which we know the stories most thoroughly. The most successful movie adaptation of the legend, EXCALIBUR, is based on elements taken from Malory's epic.
As I struggled through Chaucer while in college, I've not yet gotten up the courage to read the original middle-English version of this work (my apologies to all of the English professors out there). Therefore, it is good that Mr. Keith Baines was kind enough to translate the middle-English into a more accessible lexicon for me & people like me. Baines reveals the myths and legends in all their glory, and I can't help but believe that he expresses them in at least some measure of their middle-English power.
This is an ABSOLUTE must-read for all persons who have even a remote interest in the Arthurian fantasy. Although the book is abridged from the original, it nonetheless contains all of the most famous characters and episodes from the legend.
Within these pages, one will encounter Arthur, Gwynevere, Sir Launcelot, Sir Galahad, Sir Modred, Sir Bors, Sir Percivale, Merlin and all the rest. The purity of Galahad is contrasted with the sinful nature & temporary madness of Launcelot. The memorable allegory of Sir Percivale's duel with Satan, as well as so many other knightly adventures, are all recorded for us here.
This book is highly recommended to all fans of medieval times, medieval literature, the history of Great Britain and the idea of Chivalry. The codes of honor, the rules of fair play and the heroic ideals conceived by the knights of the middle-ages have followed us down thru the centuries and are still as relevant to the best of us today as they were 500-1500 years ago. The story ends with one of the most memorable Latin phrases in literary history:
HIC IACET ARTHURUS, REX QUONDAM REXQUE FUTURUS
[Here lies King Arthur, the once and future King]
Now for the details, open up the book!

This is not a review of any particular edition, but of the work in general and I only put this here in response to a number of one-star reviews scattered about various editions available on the store.

Often a reviewer will say the book is "boring" and "stupid" then give it a one-star rating. Some reviewers go on to recommend some outrageous alternative (like a video game) so I am not sure if all those reviewers are serious or not, but they do get a couple of things right -- it does get repetitive ("long and boring"?) and some of the characters do some very stupid things (like blindly promising to grant anyone pretty much whatever they ask for before knowing what it will be).

But all that has a purpose. It eases you into accepting and joining that reality -- falling in love with that imaginary time and place. The story starts with light hearted and humorous episodes -- good deeds are done, victories are won, valor is rewarded, romances consummated (or not) -- but as you go through the "boring" parts it slowly gets darker and darker. When it all comes to its (by then) inevitable end it really means something to you. Just where did things go wrong? Where is Merlin when you need him?

"HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE"
("Shame be to him who thinks evil of it")

This is an excellent edition of the greatest Arthurian romance of all time. At first it may seem daunting, and a little bit sexist, but there's something about this set of stories that inspires not the conscious, thinking part of the mind, but rather the subconsious. Reading it is like having a dream. Reading from start to finish is a tremendous task (it took me several months and I can read pretty quickly), considering the length and the fact that it's in the original language (not quite as difficult as Chaucer, but more difficult the Shakespeare). Many of the words he uses had different usages in his day. Others like "orgulous" are hardly ever used. Still, like I said, this is for the subconscious, and I consider it well worth the difficulty. There is a vocabulary list somewhere on the University of Virginia website, where they have an electronic edition. This could be of help.

Wow Completely the best works of Thomas Malory the King Arthur series is incredible and these books are fantastic!Highly recommend these literary masterpieces that are actually rumored to be written by someone else while in prison.I Can't Get enough of these collectors editions!The price of 6.99 is insane this books are full 8 and 1/2 by 11 with fantastic fantasy girls in armor covers! If you have never read the Arthurian legends start them today you'll love this great series!

Wow Completely the best works of Thomas Malory the King Arthur series is incredible and these books are fantastic!Highly recommend these literary masterpieces that are actually rumored to be written by someone else while in prison.I Can't Get enough of these collectors editions!The price of 6.99 is insane this books are full 8 and 1/2 by 11 with fantastic fantasy girls in armor covers! If you have never read the Arthurian legends start them today you'll love this great series!

This review applies to the abridged audiocassette version. I have not read the book, but I will, after hearing this wonderful reading by Derek Jacobi. His immaculate British accent truly brings to life this epic tale of King Arthur and his knights' adventures. I highly recommend this version and also: 'Excalibur' the movie, T. H. Whites' 'The Once and Future King', and also Carl Orffs' 'Carmina Burana - Empress of the World' - music which was featured in 'Excalibur'. These four put together can give you a truly grand starting experience of the Arthurian Legends.

In his preface, the translator Keith Baines asserts that he attempted to "provide a concise and lucid rendering of Le Morte d'Arthur" and to clarify "those episodes which, for the purpose in hand, seemed obscure, and condensing those which seemed prolix."
As an example of this condensation in progress, Baines version of The Tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake is 19 pages long. Steinbeck's translation of the same story (which had the goal of accurately preserving the story as told in the Winchester Ms.) runs over 100 pages. Throughout, Baines' edition is horribly abridged. He leaves most of the basic facts from the story intact (though some parts of his translation, especially concerning the obscurer genealogies, are plain wrong when compared to most other editions). However, he cuts all elements that make reading the legend enjoyable.

I love the book. It is everything I expected. I would recommend to anyone who loves the tales of King Arthur as it contains ALL the stories. The reader can find out who the characters are and their relarionship to each other. Given all the movies and TV productions that we have seen, it's sometimes difficult to discover who's who but this book defines each and every one and how they fit into the saga. The best thing about this book is that each chapter is a complete tale in itself and describes at the top what it is about, so the reader can either read it in chronological sequence or just choose a tale that they are particularly interested in.

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!

Having seen Ferguson's Malory, her artwork is the distinguishing factor of this edition of Le Morte D'Arthur. The watercolors are beautiful and bring the work to life, helping the reader access what can sometimes be a difficult text. It really is a beautiful book and I highly recommend this edition of Malory.

This version of Malory's classic saga of love, honor, chivalry, and betrayal is the definitive version of the story. Its language is an excellent balance of modern and archaic English, resulting in an authentic, yet highly readable tale. Along with Geoffrey of Monmouth's "Historia Regum Britanniae" and the French "Prose Launcelot"(often referred to by Malory), this book is an absolute necessity for an enjoyable, informed study of the Arthurian legend.

Le Morte D'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table has a great layout. There are many, many different stories contained within the book and, thanks to the great layout, it is easy to skip around and read the ones you find most interesting without missing too much information. The translation into a more modern language makes the read a much more enjoyable and easy one. If you are looking for Arthurian Legend information, this book is a great place to start, but be wary of the length!

Derek Jacobi reads an abridged version of Le Morte D'Arthur on eight compact discs: more than enough to give the student a reasonable grasp of the whole. His delivery is a little short of the magic which characterised the Argo set released in the 1960s: we don't get the full list of one hundred knights for example: but his enunciation is clear, engaging and idiomatic. The set is excellent value.

Fascinating book. Pre-Christian gang of thugs rapes, robs, pillages, murders, and kidnaps each other's wives. These guys make the Hell's Angels look like charter members of the National Organization for Women.
These guys must be Bill Clinton's role models.

I purchased this book because a legend regarding a probable ancestor is presented. It is commonly called the healing of Sir Urry, the Hungarian knight. This tale provides some interesting insights into my genealogy, and, even if it is only a legend, my sir name is mentioned by a Medieval Bard, a link to my family's distant past.