Softback. Blue cover with white title and mounted figures on the boards.

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FIRST EDITION in Excellent Order

THE BRITISH ISLES have a long tradition of tales of gods, heroes and marvels, hinting at a mythology once as relevant to the races which settled the islands as the Greek and Roman gods were to the classical world.The tales drawn together in this book, from a wide range of medieval sources, span the centuries from the dawn of Christianity to the age of the Plantagenets. The Norse gods which peopled the Anglo- Saxon past survive in Beowulf; Cuchulainn, Taliesin and the magician Merlin take shape from Celtic mythology; and saints include Helena who brought a piece of the True Cross to Britain, and Joseph of Arimathea
whose staff grew into the Glastonbury thorn. Tales of the British Arthur are followed by legends of later heroes, including Harold, Hereward and Godiva. These figures and many others were part of a familiar national mythology on which Shakespeare drew for Lear, Macbeth and Hamlet, creating the famous versions that are known today. Here the original
stories are presented again. RICHARD BARBER’s other books include King Arthur: Hero and Legend, Arthurian Legends: An Anthology, and The Knight and Chivalry; he is currently working on a study of the legend of the Holy Grail.Borders.com: England and the British Isles have a rich and still thriving tradition of myths and legends – and this wonderful volume
collects together more than thirty of the best from a number of sources… an incredible insight into the fascinating yet complex history of the British Isles and its peoples… Those fascinated by mythology will want to add this wonderful book to their collections. Richard William Barber (born 1941) is a prominent British historian who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days. He has specialised in the Arthurian legend, beginning with a general survey, Arthur of Albion, in 1961, which is still in print in a revised edition. His other major interest is historical biography; he has published on Henry Plantagenet (1964) and among his other books is the standard biography of Edward the Black Prince, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. The interplay between history and literature was the theme of The Knight and Chivalry, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1971 and he returned to this in The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (2004); this was widely praised in the UK press and had major reviews in The New York Times
and The Washington Post. His other career has been as a publisher. In 1969 he helped to found The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd, one of the leading publishers in medieval studies, and he is currently group managing director. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester, started the University of Rochester Press
in upstate New York. The group currently publishes over 200 titles a year.