Old Tales Retold or Illustrated, King Arthur

The illustrations and texts reflect our continued interest and fascination with Medieval Literature.  The references include King Arthur, Robin Hood, and Beowulf and are represented by a variety of mediums such as movies, graphic novels, poetry, novels, children's literature, paintings, and illustrations. 

 

The legend of King Arthur is perhaps one of the most familiar and persistent stories to survive the Middle Ages that has inspired countless retellings from Sir Thomas Malory to Alfred, Lord Tennyson to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to Josh Ritter’s song “Galahad.” The myth of Arthur and the dream of Camelot transcend the Middle Ages and the fifth-century British solider-king, who may have first inspired the stories. As the Once and Future King, Arthur has continuously been reinvented and represented. 

http://library.lehigh.edu/omeka/files/original/a0dea709892520ad6704069c835a96be.jpg

Book Jacket Illustration

Susan Cooper.  The Grey King.  New York:  Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1975.

http://library.lehigh.edu/omeka/files/original/a3f20bba5a72b26c8a01508c2eb970bb.jpg

Sir Gawain

M. R. Ridley. The Story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Colour plates by Hope Bourne.  Leicester, England:  Edmund Ward, 1944.

http://library.lehigh.edu/omeka/files/original/c7a9b8915045695026a84b4aadf12e71.jpg

The Lady Guinevere

Howard Pyle.  The Story of King Arthur and His Knights.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1929.

http://library.lehigh.edu/omeka/files/original/ddc6c2d4c79e609a37da620cfed31d2e.jpg

Tristan & Iseult with the Hermit

The Romance of Tristan Iseult as retold by Joseph Bédier. Illustrated by Serge Ivanoff.  Introduction by Padraic Colum.  Translated by Hilaire Belloc and Paul Rosenfeld.  New York:  The Limited Editions Club, 1960. 

http://library.lehigh.edu/omeka/files/original/05cbe2df4726a136937774cab24a8fc4.jpg

Title Page

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  Original Middle English text edited by A.C. Cawley.  Modern Verse by James L. Rosenberg.  Illustrations by Cyril Satorsky.  New York:  The Limited Editions Club, 1971.

http://library.lehigh.edu/omeka/files/original/16515b0d290ebc6f9eec3b10600046a0.jpg

The King, the Church, and the Peasant

Samuel Clemens.  A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.  Illustrated by Honore Guilbeua. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1948. 

http://library.lehigh.edu/omeka/files/original/e3b71b638b1e57c7c05f735022e45ee6.jpg
The night before Arthur's last battle.
Kindly permitted by Adam Stubley
http://www.trevorstubleygallery.co.uk/

 

 


T. H. White.  The Book of Merlyn: The Unpublished Conclusion to The Once and Future King. Prologue by Sylvia Townsend Warner.  Illustrations by Trevor Stubley.  Austin:  University of Texas Press, 1977.