“That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray.” And you thought it was only the month for finals and commencement! Ever since playing both a lady-in-waiting to Queen Guinevere, and a page to a knight of the Round Table in a high school production of Camelot, I can’t think about this month without humming this song. And without thinking that I need to read more about King Arthur.
So where to start? How about with King Arthur: A Casebook? The essays give a good 
overview of the Arthurian legend, including its place in the 20th century imagination. Excalibur, anyone? Or a seventeenth century re-writing of the stories, King Arthur: An Heroick Poem in Twelve Books, written by Richard Blackmore, which are a thinly disguised version of the exploits of William of Orange?
No matter where you start, be sure you include the classics, like the beautifully illustrated The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. Written and illustrated by Howard Pyle, the drawings bring the story to life. An added bonus—this copy is at the George Peabody Library, a perfect setting for reading legends.
Ready to explore on your own? Search “King Arthur” in Catalyst, our new catalog interface, and get ready to immerse yourself in all things Camelot.
And also check out The Discovery of King Arthur by Geoffrey Ashe,The Romance of Arthur by James J. Wilhelm, ed., and Dr. P. Kyle McCarter’s King Arthur in Legend and Literature in the MLA program. JHU has Arthur covered!
And don’t forget the journal Arthuriana in Project MUSE, for all of the latest in Arthurian scholarship.
Yea! I love that song and that show. My mom had an album of the Broadway cast.
For a book recommendation, try Mary Stewart’s quartet of The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day. They focus more on Merlin, but Arthur is there, too. And MSEL has them all!
https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/?q=%22Stewart%2C+Mary%2C+1916%22&search_field=author