The Boy's King Arthur

Read the history of King Arthur as it was written in 1470 by Sir Thomas Malory. Arthurian legends predate the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and were recorded in various books by many scribes. Malory consolidated them all into one source during the Wars of the Roses, and the resulting book was printed by the first English printer, William Caxton.

This edition of the book preserves Lanier's original 1881 work, namely it includes his lengthy introduction explaining the historical provenance of the text, as well as nearly 100 pages of the story that later printings omitted. The text in this book is Malory's tale from 1470 reprinted word for word. Its spelling was updated by Lanier, who also includes explanations of words that have shifted meaning over the centuries along with modern equivalents.

You might ask whether the English of 1881 can still be considered modern and readable today, but all it takes is Lanier's introduction to show us that English from even 1470 and the 1100s is still readily comprehensible. He reproduces several lines of the Arthurian tales in both Old French and Middle English. The provided "translation" is frequently unnecessary, especially when he quotes Malory writing in the fifteenth-century.