Lady Guest's Mabinogion

About the Book

A cornerstone of Welsh folklore, this new edition of the Mabinogion features Lady Guest's original English translation of the medieval collection of Arthurian legends and Celtic myths.

Book Synopsis

A cornerstone of Welsh folklore, this new edition of the Mabinogion features Lady Charlotte Guest's original English translation of the medieval collection of Arthurian legends and Celtic myths.

Sourced from Lady Guest's 1877 English translation, this new edition of the Mabinogion features twelve tales of heroes, gods, and magical creatures in an exciting odyssey of early medieval literature. It includes the Four Branches of the Mabinogi and some of the first legends of King Arthur in a brilliant treasury of time-honoured tales.

This volume offers a unique glimpse into the rich history of the ancient Welsh text, presenting six essays providing context and insight into the longevity of these enduring tales. Alongside the marvellous Celtic stories are Lady Guest's own notes on the text, as well as extracts and entries from her journals.

Review Quotes

"To the true lovers of the marvellous, who follow with eager, breathless, and soul-absorbing interest the narrative of the extraordinary adventures, the daring exploits, and the astounding supernatural agencies and transformations, which impart so powerful and fascinating a charm to the earlier romances of all nations, the perusal of the world before us will be sure to furnish a rich and delightful treat." --The Literary Gaze, 26th October 1839

"Genuine popular legends possess a high literary value, and must always be received with interest, although they may aspire to no greater elevation than that of a mere nursery tale; and amongst the most valuable which modern research has brought to light must be placed 'Lady Guest's Mabinogion.' The tales are curious additions to the stock of undoubted Celtic remains. It is interesting to trace in their supernatural machinery the close connection which subsists between the marvels of the East and of the West; and to find not only some of the wonders, but actually some of the incidents, which amused our childhood in the 'Arabian Nights, ' told with earnest faith and wild poetry by the Welsh bards of the twelfth century." --Atheneum

"The labours of Lady Charlotte Guest in editing and publishing "The Mabinogion," an ancient Welsh work of fiction, have given high satisfaction to her countrymen, as well as to the literati in general." --The Albion, 21st September 1839

"Lady Charlotte Guest is doing more to popularize and make the English reader acquainted with old Welsh national literature than all the other living antiquaries in the principality, boastful as some of them are of its treasures." -- The Monthly Review, September 1839