Reference Works

More a dictionary of names and places with some objects associated with the legend (eg. theGrail) and events (the Dolorous Stroke). It is a handy, brief reference.

International Arthurian Society. Bulletin Bibliographique de la Societe InternationaleArthurienne. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, annual since 1948.

A detailed bibliography of works published with relation to the legend. Current issue(number XLVI, 1994) has bibliographies from all the society's national branches (includingBelgium, Britain, Japan, and North America), broken into 5 categories: Texts, Studies,Reviews, Reprints, Dissertations. An index by author and subject refers one to the numberedentry.

Karr, Phyllis Ann. The King Arthur Companion: The Legendary World of Camelot and the Round Table as Revealed by the Tales Themselves, Discussed and Related by theAuthoress with Warm Concern, The Greatest and Humblest in the Realm, Interpreted inHundreds of Entries Arranged Alphabetically for Convenient, Secure Reference andPleasure. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing, 1983.

Said to have found its inspiration in Tolkien's appendices and indices to The Lord of theRings, this work is an enjoyable excursion into the world of the legend. In three parts,People, Places, and Things, it has allowed the general reader easy access to the legend.

Lacy, Norris J. et al, eds. The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1991.

A revision of the original Arthurian Encyclopedia that has doubled in size to incorporatemore details. This discusses nearly 100 characters and almost every topic in the legend'scorpus. Revisions and additions to the encyclopedia are published annually in TheArthurian Yearbook, starting with volume three.

Minary, Ruth, and Charles Moorman. An Arthurian Dictionary. Chicago: Academy Chicago, 1990.

A look at the legend from its earliest beginnings up to Malory. A useful guide to who's who. This is a revision of the 1978 edition.

Reiss, Edmund, Louise Harner Reiss, and Beverly Taylor. Arthurian Legend and Literature: An Annotated Bibliography. Volume 1: The Middle Ages. New York: Garland, 1984.

A bibliographical survey that pulls some 420 works from all the primary material(represented by 26 different languages) from its beginnings through the fifteenth century. The authors use 12 broad subject categories: Reference, History and Legend, LiteraryContexts, Arthur, Merlin, Tristan and Isolt, Percival and the Quest for the Holy Grail,Lancelot, Gawain, Other Knights and Motifs, Cycles and Compilations, and Non-ArthurianWorks Using Arthurian Elements. By doing so, the interrelationship of texts can be seen, andalso the variety that exists.

© 1996 John J. Doherty

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