A. R. Hope Moncrieff (1846–1927)

A selection of chivalric romances and legends, originally published 1913 so the intro is a little bit dated. A bit of an odd choice that the writer of the intro and collator of the stories seems to hold the genre rather in contempt - you'd think they'd ask someone who appreciates these stories to introduce the collection!

These are retellings, not the original matter, but "flavoured" with lots of old-timey language. I think I'd rather read the originals if I'm going to have to deal with that, but I suppose it lends a touch of authenticity.

The stories themselves are fairly standard, we have Arthurian tales and tales of Charlemagne. We even have the death of Roland summarised into a dozen pages of prose for me to compare to the original. Nice to see his meeting with Oliver.

My main takeaway was really was that these "heroic" knights really were self-absorbed. One of our heroes promises to meet his lady-love on a specific date, totally ghosts her, and when she sends him an angry message goes completely mad with grief and runs off into the woods to live like an animal. I guess we're supposed to be impressed by his depth of feeling, but if his lady's love was so important to him, why didn't he mark it on his calendar, huh? It reminds me of a certain sort of manipulation where someone who hurt you will go completely overboard with the self-flagellation when called out on it until you're forced to comfort them over the harm they caused you.

And yeah, that's exactly how it ends up with his lady-love! How could she have the audacity to be cross at him for blowing off the one thing she asked of him?

At least I know that behaviour comes from a long tradition I guess!… (més)

This book reprints in full the text of an Edwardian (1910) book about London and profusely illustrates it with reproductions of watercolours of that era. The introduction to this 1999 edition does not make it clear whether these are the illustrations used in the first edition, but seems to imply that they are not. Someone with access to both books should someday check whether to combine "Victorian and Edwardian London" with Moncrieff's "London" in LibraryThing's catalogue.

It's absolutely fascinating as an armchair traveller's guidebook. Enough of London has survived the Blitz to make Moncrieff's walk through its streets recognizable, yet after over a century it's undeniably unfamiliar. Definitely worth the attention of anyone interested in this historical city.… (més)