The Winchester Manuscript. The manuscript of the Morte Darthur, copied between 1470 and 1483, that predates Caxton’s edition; it was discovered in 1934. Since then there has been much debate about whether the manuscript represents Malory’s intent better than Caxton’s version, or whether Caxton’s revisions were made by Malory himself, or whether Caxton was a good editor who improved on his author as good editors do. The manuscript is beautiful, legible, and scanned at high resolution, so you can form your own opinions at your leisure.
Le Morte Darthur, by Sir Thomas Malory. The original edition of William Caxton now reprinted and edited with an introduction and glossary by H. Oskar Sommer, Ph.D. With an essay on Malory’s prose style by Andrew Lang, M.A. London: David Nutt, 1889–1891. —Caxton’s edition, reprinted with original spelling and punctuation. “The present edition follows the original in every respect, word for word, line for line, and page for page, and, with a few exceptions which are accounted for and registered, letter for letter,” Oskar Sommer explains in an editor’s note not found in all copies.
Volume I. Text.
At Google Books.There are copies of Vol. I divided in various ways. The two parts below are well scanned, but there is a gap between page 422 and page 451.
Volume I, part I. Text.
Another copy.Volume I, part 2. Text concluded.
The Byrth, Lyf. and Actes of Kyng Arthyr; of his Noble Knyghtes of the Rounde Table, theyr Marveyllous Enquestes and Aduentures, Thachyeuyng of the Sant Greal; and in the end Le Morte Darthur, with the Dolorous Deth and Departyng Out of Thys Worlds of Them Al. With and introduction and notes, by Robert Southey, Esq. Printed from Caxton’s Edition, 1485. 1817. —Looks like a very close reprint of Caxton’s version, but the Sommer edition above accuses it of being riddled with errors and unacknowledged interpolations. With a long introduction by Southey, who apparently is not responsible for the editing of the text itself.
La Mort d’Arthure. The History of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Compiled by Sir Thomas Malory, Knt. Edited from the text of the edition of 1634, with introduction and notes, but Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. Third edition. London: Reeves and Turner, 1889. —“It has been judged advisable to adopt for the text the latest of the old editions, that of 1634; for it is evident that the choice lay between the last and the first, between this we have selected and that of Caxton; as the moment we decided on abandoning Caxton, there was no reason why we should not take that of the reprints which was most readable. This choice was made with the less scruple, as no particular philological value is attached to the language of Caxton’s edition, which would certainly be repulsive to the modern reader, while all its value as a literary monument is retained in the reprint. On the other hand, the orthography and phraseology of the edition of 1634, with the sprinkling of obsolete words, not sufficiently numerous to be embarrassing, preserves a certain clothing of mediaeval character which we think is one of the charms of the book.”
Vol. III. —Some pages are illegible in this scan. The second edition, however, is at least nearly identical, and the page breaks are the same:
Vol. III, second edition. London: John Russell Smith, 1866.
Le Morte Darthur. Sir Thomas Malory’s Book of King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table. The text of Caxton, edited, with an introduction, by Sir Edward Strachey, Bart. London: Macmillan and Co., 1893. —Modern spelling and punctuation, but otherwise as Caxton printed it. Small type in double columns. This edition was printed many times beginning in the 1860s, but the introduction was revised after Sommer’s edition was published (see above), so all our copies are from those later printings.
1899 printing at Google Books.
1906 printing.
1919 printing.
Le Morte Darthur. The book of King Arthur and of his noble knights of the Round Table. By Sir Thomas Malory, Knt. London: Philip Lee Warner, publisher to the Medici Society, 1921. —Illustrated by W. Russell Flint. —Beautifully printed, illustrated in color.