Le morte dArthur : Sir Thomas Malory's book of King Arthur and of his noble knights of the round table
by Malory, Thomas Sir
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Galway, Ireland
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Jonathan Cape, 1927. 1st Single Volume Edition. Hardback. Near fine copy in the original gilt-blocked cloth with gilt decoration to front board. Slightest suggestion only of dust-dulling to the spine bands and panel edges. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong.; 8vo 8"" - 9"" tall; 529 pages; Physical desc. : 529 p. Port ; ill. , (col) 23 cm. Subject: Arthur, King - Legends. Arthurian romances -- Knights of the Round Table.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Reviews
On Jul 30 2014, SimonTremarco said:
The Norton Critical Edition edition by Stephen Shepherd makes for an ideal presentation of Malory, one that strongly evokes the experience of reading the original Winchester manuscript, but at the same time gives plenty of help for the modern reader. Introduction, explanatory notes and glossary are finely judged. Note that this edition is in original spelling and is unabridged: a lower degree of difficulty can be found in Helen Cooper's abridged, modern-spelling edition (Le Morte Darthur: The Winchester Manuscript (Oxford World's Classics)).
The editor expresses some hesitation (p. xii) over the decision to break the text up into modern paragraphs, and not simply to reproduce the manuscript's placement of paragraph symbols in unbroken text. It's not a big issue, but I for one would have found this method attractive, the bold paragraph symbols (as I imagine) breaking up the text adequately and giving an even more distinctive, manuscript-like feel to it.
The only thing that slightly detracts from the book for me is the typesetting of the verso pages (the left-hand pages of each opening), which goes against traditional practice. Since the text is prose, set justified left and right, the marginal annotations of the left-hand pages could easily have been placed in the outer margin, in a mirror image of the right-hand pages. As it is there is a stark, mostly empty space along the inner edge of the left page, while the text comes to within a few millimetres of the outer edge, disturbing to the eye and leaving no thumb-room. Poetry has to be set this way, of course, with its ragged right edge - and in any case the narrower columns of text are easier to keep clear of the page's edge. But if this is Norton house style for prose, I can't see why it's necessary.
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Details
- Bookseller
- MW Books Ltd. (IE)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 201116
- Title
- Le morte dArthur : Sir Thomas Malory's book of King Arthur and of his noble knights of the round table
- Author
- Malory, Thomas Sir
- Format/Binding
- Hardback
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Single Volume Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- London: Jonathan Cape
- Date Published
- 1927
Terms of Sale
MW Books Ltd.
Returns accepted within 10 days of receipt if you are unsatisfied with either our description of, or the book itself.
About the Seller
MW Books Ltd.
Biblio member since 2005
Galway
About MW Books Ltd.
MW Books is an academic and antiquarian bookshop with a large stock in core areas such as Early Travel & Exploration, Nineteenth Century Literature, Early Political Economy, Labour and Social History, and Asian and Colonial History. Please don't hesitate to contact us with your questions or comments regarding any item listed.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.