"The Mabinogion" Deluxe Signed Limited Artist Edition w/COA, Signed by Alan Lee [Sealed]

Personally signed by Alan Lee, the award-winning illustrator best known for his artwork inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novels.

Easton Press. "The Mabinogion".  Deluxe Signed Limited Artist Edition. Luxuriously bound with full genuine leather. Personal signed by Alan Lee directly onto the special title page. Includes publisher issued COA. The ancient Welsh collection of Celtic myth and Arthurian Legend, illustrated by the great Alan Lee. Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and an intriguing interpretation of British history are just some of the themes in the 11 tales that make up this Welsh medieval masterpiece. These classic stories of dragons, witches, giants, kings and heroes are offered here in a stunning edition featuring the art and signature of Alan Lee. 

• Translated by Lady Charlotte Guest
• 7 3/8" x 9 5/8"
• 368 pages

The Mabinogion

Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and an intriguing interpretation of British history--these are just some of the themes embraced by the anonymous authors of the eleven tales that make up the Welsh medieval masterpiece known as the Mabinogion. They tell of Gwydion the shape-shifter, who can create a woman out of flowers; of Math the magician whose feet must lie in the lap of a virgin; of hanging a pregnant mouse and hunting a magical boar. Dragons, witches, and giants live alongside kings and heroes, and quests of honour, revenge, and love are set against the backdrop of a country struggling to retain its independence.

About the Series:

For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Mabinogion is a collection of the earliest Welsh prose stories, compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created c. 1350–1410, as well as a few earlier fragments. Often included in the broader mythologies described as the Matter of Britain, the Mabinogion consists of eleven stories of widely different types, offering drama, philosophy, romance, tragedy, fantasy and humour. Strictly speaking, the Four Branches of the Mabinogi are the main sequence of related tales, but seven others include a classic hero quest, "Culhwch and Olwen"; a historic legend, complete with glimpses of a far off age, in "Lludd and Llefelys"; and other tales portraying a very different King Arthur from the later popular versions.

The stories were created and amended by various narrators over a very long period of time, and scholars beginning from the 18th century predominantly viewed the tales as fragmentary pre-Christian Celtic mythology, or folklore. Since the 1970s, an investigation of the  common plot structures, characterisation, and language styles, especially in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, has led to an understanding of the integrity of the tales, and they are now seen as a sophisticated narrative tradition, both oral and written, with ancestral construction from oral storytelling, and overlay from Anglo-French influences.

The first modern publications of the stories were English translations by William Owen Pughe of several tales in journals in 1795, 1821, and 1829, which introduced usage of the name "Mabinogion". In 1838–45, Lady Charlotte Guest first published the full collection we know today,[9] bilingually in Welsh and English, which popularised the name. The later Guest translation of 1877 in one volume has been widely influential and remains actively read today.

The tales continue to inspire new fiction, dramatic retellings, visual artwork, music and research, from early reinterpretations by Evangeline Walton in 1936, to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, to the 1975 song "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac, to the 2009–2014 series of books commissioned by Welsh independent publisher Seren Books.

Alan Lee

Alan Lee (born 20 August 1947) is an English book illustrator and film conceptual designer. He is best known for his artwork inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, and for his work on the concept design of Peter Jackson's film adaptations of Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film series.

Lee has illustrated dozens of fantasy books, including some non-fiction, and many more book covers. Among the numerous works by J. R. R. Tolkien that he has illustrated are the 1992 centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings, a 1999 edition of The Hobbit, the 2007 The Children of Húrin, the 2017 Beren and Lúthien, the 2018 The Fall of Gondolin, and the 2022 The Fall of Númenor. He has given numerous conferences, interviews and masterclasses, such as the one recorded at the Bibliothèque nationale de France[3] in 2020, during the exhibition "Tolkien : voyage en Terre du Milieu".

Hans Velten writes that Lee was influenced by William Morris's graphic approach. He suggests that Lee was comfortable with Tolkien's acceptance of Morris, and accordingly made his Middle-earth illustrations more like Morris's style. In Velten's view, Lee's work, especially as concept artist on Peter Jackson's 2001–2003 The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, has influenced the audience's "collective imagination" of how places and people should look in Middle-earth.

Features

• Fully bound in genuine leather.
• 22kt gold deeply inlaid on the "hubbed" spine.
• Superbly printed on acid-neutral paper that lasts for generations.
• Sewn pages - not just glued like ordinary books.
• Printed end-pages and a satin-ribbon page marker.
• Printed and bound in the USA. Imported materials.
• Rigorous inspection at every stage ensures adherence to exacting standards.
• Superb craftsmanship and commitment to quality.
• Beautiful Illustrations
• Gilded Page Edges