Folio Archives 242: The Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland – 2009-10
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1wcarter
The Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland
The Seeing Stone 2009
At the Crossing-Places 2010
King of the Middle March 2010
This is a retelling of the 5th. Century Legend of King Arthur from the point of view of a teenage boy also named Arthur living in the 12th. Century. Over the three volumes two stories are told simultaneously, the original legend of King Arthur and the life of the eponymous Arthur 700 years later which has many parallels with that of the legendary King.
The series is aimed at young adult readers with multiple short chapters and an easy reading style. The story is charming, captivating and certainly novel in its approach to the legend. If you found Mort d’Arthur heavy going, this is a very easy way to read most details of the legendary tale.
Published as three separately slipcased volumes over two years, the books share a common style and similar bindings.
Each volume has a colour frontispiece with multiple integrated colour and monochrome illustrations by John Lawrence. They are quarter bound in mid- blue cloth with colour patterns printed on both covers, each cover with subtly different illustrations that reproduce sections of the illustrations within the book. There are map endpapers in all volumes printed black on light-blue, each endpaper having a different map.
The slipcases are all an undecorated mid-blue and measure 23.5x17.2cm.
The books vary slightly in length :-
The Seeing Stone 279 pages
At the Crossing-Places 321 pages
King of the Middle March 336 pages
There is an author’s note and list of characters at the beginning of each volume, and an explanatory wordlist at the end. There is no independent introduction.
Front endpaper
Back endpaper
Front endpaper
Back endpaper
Front endpaper
Back endpaper
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
The Seeing Stone 2009
At the Crossing-Places 2010
King of the Middle March 2010
This is a retelling of the 5th. Century Legend of King Arthur from the point of view of a teenage boy also named Arthur living in the 12th. Century. Over the three volumes two stories are told simultaneously, the original legend of King Arthur and the life of the eponymous Arthur 700 years later which has many parallels with that of the legendary King.
The series is aimed at young adult readers with multiple short chapters and an easy reading style. The story is charming, captivating and certainly novel in its approach to the legend. If you found Mort d’Arthur heavy going, this is a very easy way to read most details of the legendary tale.
Published as three separately slipcased volumes over two years, the books share a common style and similar bindings.
Each volume has a colour frontispiece with multiple integrated colour and monochrome illustrations by John Lawrence. They are quarter bound in mid- blue cloth with colour patterns printed on both covers, each cover with subtly different illustrations that reproduce sections of the illustrations within the book. There are map endpapers in all volumes printed black on light-blue, each endpaper having a different map.
The slipcases are all an undecorated mid-blue and measure 23.5x17.2cm.
The books vary slightly in length :-
The Seeing Stone 279 pages
At the Crossing-Places 321 pages
King of the Middle March 336 pages
There is an author’s note and list of characters at the beginning of each volume, and an explanatory wordlist at the end. There is no independent introduction.
Front endpaper
Back endpaper
Front endpaper
Back endpaper
Front endpaper
Back endpaper
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
3AnnieMod
I grabbed those some time in early 2011 - shortly after I moved and probably among the first books I got with the new account (not the very first but close). I love the covers of these and I've always liked the cleaner matched spines like these where all books from the series can have the same font and what's not. (And I really need to get around to reading them).
4elenchus
Goodness, I've never felt more enabled by a post here on LT. I'm familiar with Crossley-Holland and vaguely recall reading the first book, but wasn't familiar with the trilogy, nor with the Folio Society edition.
Guess I'll be finding out how dear these are, whether on the secondary market or direct from FS (if they're still available).
Guess I'll be finding out how dear these are, whether on the secondary market or direct from FS (if they're still available).
5folio_books
>4 elenchus: Guess I'll be finding out how dear these are, whether on the secondary market
Probably not as much as you might expect, though I dare say Warwick's tantalising review might be responsible for an upsurge in demand.
Probably not as much as you might expect, though I dare say Warwick's tantalising review might be responsible for an upsurge in demand.
6Juniper_tree
>4 elenchus: it’s a beautiful set, packed full of illustrations. Yet surprisingly cheap.
Edit to check eBay £15-£25 each with the set £60-£70.
Edit to check eBay £15-£25 each with the set £60-£70.
7bacchus.
I shamelessly enjoy a lot of young adult books lately. This is one I'll be watching out for. I really like the illustrations and headings - thanks for showing so much of it.
8kronnevik
There's a sequel called Gatty's Tale I discovered after reading this trilogy a couple years back. Not published by FS, but the hardback is quite nice. I quite enjoyed the story.
9drasvola
>1 wcarter:
A very enjoyable review as always, thanks. Slight slip at the keyboard: the illustrator should be John Lawrence.
A very enjoyable review as always, thanks. Slight slip at the keyboard: the illustrator should be John Lawrence.
10wcarter
>9 drasvola:
Thanks. Original entry corrected.
Thanks. Original entry corrected.
