ENGLISH LITERATURE AT THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. New York: Oxford University Press, [1947]. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1] 2-247 [248: blank], cloth. Second printing, with corrections. "This half-volume, together with the half-volume on CHAUCER AND THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, give a full treatment of English literature in the fifteenth century. For two reasons, however, Sir Edmund Chambers's book departs from the usual principle in this series of allotting a volume or half-volume to a particular period. The one is the story of the medieval drama and the story of the ballad are better told without strict attention to the boundaries of time; and the other is that the editors have wished to give the author the opportunity of writing once more on subjects which have interested him in the past -- the medieval drama, the carol and fifteenth-century lyric, and Malory" (editors' note). Part of the "Oxford History of English Literature" series, this volume edited by F. P. Wilson and Bonamy Dobrée. A work of considerable importance for those interested in fantastic literature that includes a major survey of "Popular Narrative Poetry and the Ballad," pages [122]-184, and an important essay on Sir Thomas Malory, pp. [185]-205. Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers (1866-1954), English literary critic and Shakespearean scholar, published a four-volume work on the Elizabethan stage in 1923 that remains a standard resource. A fine copy. (#164724).
Price: $45.00
"FIRST PUBLISHED 1945 / SECOND IMPRESSION 1947 (WITH CORRECTIONS)" on copyright page.