Le Morte Darthur. (The Noble and Joyous Booke entyled Le Morte Darthur) 1933 by Mallory, Sir Thomas - 1933: Beautiful Printing and Binding of a very Rare Work

Le Morte D'arthur. (The Noble and Joyous Booke entyled Le Morte D'arthur). William Caxton. Westminster, 31 July, 1485 is followed by the 1498 Edition 'The Boke of Noble Kyng. Kyng Arthure Somtyme Kynge of

Englande and His Noble Actes and Feates of armes of Chyvalrye, and His Noble Knyghtes and Table Rounde and is Deuyeded in to. XXI Bookes. Wynkyn de Worde, Westminster. 1498. This edition is an exact copy of that rare and unusual work that includes the wood cut engravings found throughout the text. This facsimile copy was done by the Elizabethan scholar A. H. Bullen who established the Shakespeare Head Press in Stratford-up-Avon in 1904. His original aim was to produce a good edition of Shakespeare's works, and his ten volume Stratford Town Shakespeare was completed by 1907. After Bullen died in 1927, the press was acquired by a partnership including Basil Blackwell, the Oxford bookseller. Bernard Newdigate was appointed as typographer and under his direction the press worked within the Morris tradition: Ovid's Metamorphoses was the first book he produced as a limited edition. This Wynck de Worde edition is taken from a 'perfect', we say that with a bit of tongue in cheek, edition of the Morte d'Arthur, was done on paper stock that nearly as possible matches the original as well as the type and the engravings. It is a delightful copy and it will sharpen your skills at reading Olde Englysshe literature. One can hear the lilt of the voice as in this time period, most everyone read aloud. Entering a library in this time period would have meant that there was a constant and sustained sound of people reading works out loud...ssshh was not invented until long after. King Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth both read silently, a tradition started many centuries before by Saint Augustine (he was thought mad, gifted and touched by the Lord God because he could read silently and tell the audience everything that he had just read!). It is said also, that Southern speech and up until the 1940's and 50's certain communities off the coast of North
Carolina had retained what linguists believed the truest living speech of old English that Henry the 8th and Elizabeth and indeed even Shakespeare would have sounded like. Caxton's printing was and is very phonetic to the ear and very pleasing to learn to read and indeed, read out loud....A wonderful book set for any collection or you can buy the original for a couple of million dollars!

Libraries worldwide that own item: 1 (of this 1933 Edition)

Title: The noble and joyous boke entytled le Morte Darthur ... Whyche boke was reduced in to Englysshe by the well dysposyd knyghte Syr Thomas Malory.
Author(s): Malory, Thomas, Sir, 15th cent.
Publication: Oxford : Printed at the Shakespeare Head Press and published by Basil Blackwell,
Year: 1933
Description: 2 v ; 4to.
Language: English
Document Type: Book
Entry: 19970201
Update: 20080517
Accession No: OCLC: 181668176
Database: WorldCat