Beowulf

This Old English epic, surviving in a manuscript of about the year 1000, follows the Geatish warrior Beowulf to the Danish hall of Heorot, where the monster Grendel has been killing Hrothgar's men. Beowulf tears Grendel apart, then dives to a mere to fight Grendel's mother. In the last movement, now an aged king of the Geats, he faces a dragon that has begun to ravage his people, with the young Wiglaf beside him. The poem intercuts these fights with feuds, gifts, and warnings about pride and kinship. It is a heroic narrative of three combats framed by the rise and fall of halls.

Bound in brown canvas with a design in green by Jeff Clements. Green and white endleaves printed with a picture by Burnett. Green page tops. Mottled pale brown slipcase.