THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS - A BOOK THAT INSPIRED TOLKIEN. With original illustrations. THE PROFESSOR’S BOOKSHELF #9:

Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, greatly enjoyed Arthurian stories, which he called ‘powerful’. In fact, it was he who translated ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ (a 14th-century romance about one of Arthur’s knights) into modern English. So profoundly did the legends of King Arthur move Tolkien that a few years before he wrote ‘The Hobbit’ he began to compose a poem in alliterative verse, entitled ‘The Fall of Arthur’. Literary researchers have found several parallels between the Arthurian legends and ‘The Lord of the Rings’. In her new introduction, Dart-Thornton discusses these similarities. It was 1903 when Howard Pyle’s beautifully illustrated ‘The Story of King Arthur and his Knights’ was first published. At the time, J.R.R. Tolkien was an eleven year old boy. This new edition is ornamented with the original pictures printed in the first edition - close to 150 gorgeous illustrations. With what relish must young Tolkien have seized upon this new version of the timeless legend, complete with captivating drawings! And how eagerly must that young mind have soaked up the heroic visions that would later help shape Middle-earth in ‘The Lord of the Rings’.