Sir Thomas Malory

Le Morte D'Arthur - two volumes

      The Easton Press, Norwalk, Connecticutt - Dark brown leather-like cover, gold foil stamped on front, spine and back. 7 3/8" x 10 3/4". Gold gilding on all three edges. Silk bound-in bookmark. Ribbed spine. Moire endpapers. Each volume has a bookplate reading "Published expressly for the personal library of Barry Griffin." "The story of King Arthur & his noble knights of the round table written by Sir Thomas Malory, first printed by William Caxton, now modernised, as to spelling and punctuation, by A. W. Pollard, illustrated by Robert Gibbings. The Morte d'Arthur was finished in the ninth year of the reign of Edward the IV., i.e. between March 4, 1469 and the same date in 1470. It is thus, fitly enough, the last important English book written before the introduction of printing into the country, and since no manuscript of it has come down to us, it is also the first English classic for our knowledge of which we are entirely dependent on a printed text. Caxton was not only the printer of the book, but to some extent its editor also, dividing Malory's work into twenty-one books, splitting up the books into chapters, by no means skilfully, and supplying the "Rubrish" or chapter headings." Note: there may be extra shipping charges for this two-volume set. [Attributes: Hard Cover]