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This massive collection, including the complete set of stories from ‘Legends of King Arthur and his Knights’ by Sir James Knowles, spans centuries of Arthurian myth and legend.

We are taken back to the sixth century and the birth of Arthur in ‘A Time Before Tales’ by Colin Bradshaw-Jones. This perhaps controversial tale gives one possible explanation for a real Arthur, be he Welsh or Cornish, and is published here for the first time.

We are then transported to the medieval ‘Kilhwch and Olwen’ from the Welsh classic ‘The Mabinogion’, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest. The story can lay claim to be one of the earliest (perhaps the earliest) written Arthurian romances in any language, and is of immense historical interest.  

Finally, Sir James Knowles gives us the epic collection of tales which most closely resembles the King Arthur we know today, and which forms the largest portion of the book;

‘And as they prayed, there was seen in the churchyard, set straight before the doorways of the church, a huge square stone having a naked sword stuck in the midst of it. And on the sword was written in letters of gold, "Whoso pulleth out the sword from this stone is born the rightful King of Britain ."’

The book is illustrated in black-and-white by Howard David Johnson.

'Great care has gone into the production of this work, and the result is outstanding.' Professor Ian Ruxton, Japan