La Mort D'Arthur
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The most ancient and famous History of the renowned Prince Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table. By Sir Thomas Malory, Knt., 3 vols.
Editor: Joseph Haslewood
Illustrations: William Marshall
Engraved: Richard Rhodes
Year: 1816
Publisher: London: R. Wilks, 89, Chancery Lane
Price: 12 shillings
The year 1816 represents a tremendous turning point in the fortunes of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur, a text written in the late fifteenth century and published by William Caxton in 1485. After a gap of nearly two centuries since the last early modern edition by William Stansby in 1634, two editions appeared at once, both in 1816: the first was Alexander Chalmer's two-volume The History of the Renowned Prince Arthur, King of Britain; and the second, Haslewood's own La Mort D'Arthur. Both editions were based on the Stansby/ Jacob Blome edition and intended for a general audience. Haslewood's edition suffered as a result of the earlier publication of Chalmer's reprint: not only was Chalmer's edition smaller, in two-volumes as opposed to Haslewood's three, but it was also cheaper, 9 shillings as opposed to Haslewood's 12s. Chalmer's displays little editorial intervention in Malory's text; this was likely the result of his desire to present his edition before his rival, Haslewood – whereas Haslewood's edition, like almost all subsequent nineteenth-century editions of the Morte Darthur, was heavily expurgated so as to make the text fit for 'the eye of youth.' Despite falling short of the success of his rival, Chalmer's cheaper edition, however, Haslewood's version bears a number of distinctions which the former did not: although based on Stansby, Haslewood attributed additional provenance to his edition with the inclusion of Caxton's original Preface to his 1485 editio princeps of the Morte; furthermore, Haslewood's edition is the first reprint of Malory's text titled La Mort D'Arthur. Additionally, it would be Haslewood's edition which Tennyson, who would prove to be the most influential writer of Arthurian literature in the nineteenth century, first became acquainted with Malory's text. Notwithstanding the obvious differences between the two rival versions, both the 1816 editions remain distinguished for introducing the Morte Darthur – the apotheosis of the English Arthurian tradition – to the modern world.
Frontispiece Vol. I: Death of Sir Lancelot (left);
(right) Book I, Ch. XXIII: 'How King Arthur, by the Means of Merlin, gave
his Sword of Excalibur of the Lady of the Lake
Frontispiece Vol. II: The Parting of Sir Tristram and La Beale Isoud (left);
Battle of Sir Launcelot & Sir Tristram (right)
Vol. III: 'Prince Arthur obtaining the Sword' (left);
'Sir Percival gave the serpent such a buffet that he had a deadly wound' (right)