Caxton's Mallory: A New Edition of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur - Based on the Pierpont Morgan Copy of William Caxton's Edition of 1485

by James William Spisak, William Matthews, Bert Dillon

Caxton’s Malory is the first scholarly edition since the nineteenth century of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Mort D’Arthur as it was printed by William Caxton in 1485. The first volume contains Caxton’s text, illustrated with twenty-one beautiful woodcuts from William Copland’s edition of 1557. The second volume contains the extensive critical apparatus.

Genres: Fiction, Classics

934 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1983

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This edition of Caxton's Malory was originally begun by William Matthews, who was a proponent of the Caxton print over the Winchester Manuscript, writing numerous essays on this subject, most of which are collected in the Arthurian Studies volume called The Malory Debate. After Matthews death, the project was taken over and completed by James Spisak.

The book comes in a limited edition two volume set with slipcase. The first volume is pretty straight forward and contains an edition of Caxton's Malory from the edition housed in the Pierpoint Morgan Library.

The second volume contains a study of Caxton and his handling of Malory's writings, over two hundred pages of textual notes and the text of the Lucius section from the Winchester Manuscript, plus a glossary. But best of all there's a dictionary of characters and place names that cover both Caxton's printed version and the Winchester Manuscript.

This is an ideal book for anyone wishing to do a comparative study of both the Caxton and Winchester versions of Malory's writings.

[Sean Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! Do you like adventure, chivalry, love stories, enchantments, honor, betrayal, and battles? This book has everything. The reason I gave it 4 stars was due to the saga of the Sangreal reading like a bad sermon to the point that I question whether it was written by a different author entirely or whether it was written upon threat of excommunication. I don't mind a sermon, but a bad sermon in the middle of an otherwise epic masterpiece? No thanks. Otherwise, I highly recommend this classic.

[Jim]

One of these days, I'll read it if i ever get the time and the courage. The excerts exhibit beautiful prose. It begs to be read aloud! I've read it in a more modern version. Important Book, this is the Matter of Britian.