The Boy's King Arthur
Sidney Lanier's abridged children's edition of Malory's Arthurian tales.
The Boy's King Arthur is an 1880 children's edition of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, edited by Sidney Lanier. Its full title was The Boy's King Arthur being Sir Thomas Malory's History of King Arther and his Knights of the Round Table. The work is notable for its role in shaping later American encounters with Arthurian legend, including possible influence on Mark Twain and John Steinbeck.
Quick Facts
- Editor
- Sidney Lanier
- Author
- Sir Thomas Malory
- Illustrator
- Alfred Kappes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Series
- The Boy's Library of Legend and Chivalry
- Genre
- Children's literature; Chivalric romance
- Set in
- Medieval England
Facts from the source article.
Contents
Lanier included his own introduction, an extract from Layamon's Brut with translation, and William Caxton's introduction to the Morte. The original 1880 edition contained 12 illustrations based on paintings by Alfred Kappes. Lanier indicated his abridgements of Malory's text with brackets, modernized spelling, and added notes to archaisms such as "hight" and "mickle". His bowdlerizations removed Uther's rape of Igraine, Sir Lancelot's madness, Sir Gareth's pre-marital sex, and the relationship between Tristram and Isolde. He substituted an oblique explanation for Guinevere banishing Lancelot, stating that Brisen (called "a certain enchantress") had made it seem Lancelot had "shamed his knighthood", manner unspecified. Suggestions that Guinevere might be envious of Elaine were also removed. The 1917 edition, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth with 14 colour illustrations, was an abridgement of Lanier's own abridgment, omitting the tale of Balin. Later printings reduced Wyeth's illustrations to 9. Wyeth and Kappes shared only two subjects: the Lady of the Lake giving Excalibur to Arthur and Arthur's final battle with Mordred. Charles Scribner's Sons kept the 1880 edition with Kappes' illustrations in print until 1937, alongside the 1917 edition. Grosset and Dunlap published a 1950 edition retitled King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, with 10 colour full-page illustrations and further black-and-white chapter-head illustrations by Florian Kraner.
Influences
The Clemens family bought two copies of Lanier's book on November 18, 1880 and December 13, 1880; Alan Gribben notes that Mark Twain may have read those, given his habit of reading his daughter's books aloud. Walker Percy stated in a 1987 letter that Wyeth's illustrations from The Boy's King Arthur influenced his novel Lancelot, recalling the final battle, the gift of Excalibur, and the illustration of Lancelot and Sir Turquine.
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