Special Collections
Book of the Month, October 2007
Le Morte Darthur
Sir Thomas Malory; ill. by Robert Gibbings
New York: Limited Editions Club, 1936
[S.L.] III [Limited Editions Club – 1936]
Malory finished his Morte Darthur in 1470 and it was first published by William Caxton in 1485. Its eight books cover the time from the conception of King Arthur to the fall of the Round Table. They include the stories of the search for the Holy Grail and of the love and intrigue between Tristan and Iseult and between Lancelot and Guinevere. Itself based on several earlier English and French works, Malory’s Arthuriad influenced Tennyson in the nineteenth century and T.H. White in the twentieth, besides spawning films, cartoons, and computer games. The purpose of the numerous editions have been simply to read (for example, Israel Gollancz’s edition in the series “ Temple Classics”, meant to popularize English literature); to study; and for beauty (for example, Dent’s editions with designs by Aubrey Beardsley).
The purpose of the edition featured here is aesthetic pleasure. Each of the nearly 800 pages contains a wood engraving, usually in the margins. George Macy of the Limited Editions Club in New York (founded 1929) commissioned the work as an economical piece of fine printing; this was typical of the Club’s remit of commissioned private presses to produce its limited editions of classics and other literary works, often illustrated by prominent artists. The private press involved in this instance was the Golden Cockerel Press (1920-1959), known for some of the best wood engravings of the twentieth century. The artist, Robert Gibbings (1889-1958), was the second of the Press ‘s three owners. Of the 72 books it produced under his directorship (1924-33), the Malory is one of nineteen which he illustrated himself, and one of 48 with wood engravings. The late mediaeval source of text is unusual for the Golden Cockerell Press, which except for an edition of The Canterbury Tales (1929-31) tended to print either ancient or more modern works. With 1,500 copies (all signed by Gibbings), the edition is not particularly limited. The Senate House Library copy is designated “L.K.W.”
The Library purchases the work in 2007 for the section of the Sterling Library (of first and fine editions of English literature) devoted to private presses; this section features works both by the Limited Editions Club and by Golden Cockerel Press.
specialcollections@shl.lon.ac.uk 
020 7862 8470 shl.specialcollections@london.ac.uk 020 7862 8470
