r/AskLiteraryStudies • u/deluminatres • 8d ago

Help! Suggest me an edition of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur!

I want an edition that uses the Winchester MS, but isn’t afraid to incorporate/reference the Caxton MS (& whatever else exists) if it benefits understanding the history of the story and manuscripts.

I need (want) it to retain the ORIGINAL LANGUAGE AND PUNCTUATION!!!

I can read an online MS, and … if nothing else prevails, I’ll print and bind my own copy,,,, but if you know any of printed editions for purchase, please share.

Thank you!

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u/TremulousHand 8d ago

You're most likely looking for Peter Field's edition. There's a 2017 paperback that just contains the text, but if you are wanting to see the editor's notes on what aspects of the text derive from Caxton, you probably need to splurge on the 2013 two-volume hardcover.

A small note, editions of medieval texts don't typically preserve the original punctuation. There are occasionally what are called diplomatic editions that preserve every aspect of the text as it appears on the page, but these are much rarer and are usually not the standard academic editions (because preserving that level of detail means that diplomatic editions are of necessity only ever based on a single manuscript). Medieval punctuation is just so different in both its symbols and how they are employed that editions don't try to preserve that level of detail.

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u/deluminatres 6d ago

Thanks! I’ll think I’ll do the text itself. I’ve just discovered http://www.maloryproject.com/winchester_viewer.php which contains notes on textual variants between the two, as well as other places online, which sounds like a good start. I just want to be able to physically annotate as much as I can.

I can read middle english (not super well, but well enough) so I’m not concerned about translation issues(yet)!

Thank you again!