A collaborative effort of Lowlands-L, compiled and presented by Reinhard F. Hahn. Special help has
been provided by Edward Sproston in May 1997.
Suggestions and additions are welcome and should be sent to
admin@lowlands-l.net.
Bolton, W. F., ed. (1994); The Middle Ages; Penguin History of Literature, vol. 1; Reprint Edition, Penguin USA; ISBN 0-140-17751-5.
Cable, T. (1991); The English Alliterative Tradition; Middle Ages Series; USA: University of Pennsylvania Press; ISBN 0-812-23063-9.
Clark, J. W. (1959); Early English; London (England): Andre Deutsch. (Deals with Old and Middle English in some detail.)
Diekstra, Frans (1981); Early and Middle English Literature; ISBN 9-062-03933-2.
Fichte, Jörg O., and Fritz Kemmler (1994); Alt- und mittelenglische Literatur: Eine Einführung; ISBN 3-87808-926-0; DM 36,80. (Introduction to Old and Middle English Literature; in German.)
Fernández, Francisco (1982/1993); Historia de la lengua inglesa; Madrid (Spain): Gredos. (History of the English language; in Spanish.)
Fisher, John H. (1996); The Emergence of Standard English; USA: University Press of Kentucky; ISBN 0-813-10852-7.
Freeborn, D. (1992); From Old English to Standard English; London (England): Macmillan; ISBN 0-333-53768-8. (Useful book charting the development of English from 500's to the 1990's. Includes representative texts and exercises.)
Gneuß, Helmut (1990); Die Wissenschaft von der englischen Sprache: Ihre Entwicklung bis zum Ausgang des 19. Jahrhunderts. Munich (Germany). (English history until the 19th century; in German.)
Gruber, Loren C., and Dean Loganbill (1977); In Geardagum II: Essays on Old and Middle English Language; Society for New Language Study; ISBN 0-936-07203-2.
Kiesby, Torben (1992); A Short History of the English Language; Aarhus (Denmark): Aarhus University Press; ISBN 87-7288-406-1; 180 pp.; paperback; DKK 198
McCrum, Robert, William Cran, and Robert McNeil (1986); The Story of English; New York (USA): Viking; 384 pp., illustrated.
Partridge, A. C. (1982); A Companion to Old and Middle English Studies; The Language Library; USA: Barnes & Noble; ISBN 0-389-20287-8. (Useful for students.)
Wakelin, M. (1988); The Archaeology of English; London (England): Batsford; ISBN 0-7134-5556-X. (All periods of English are discussed with reference to historical documents.)
Zesmer, David M. (1982); Guide to English Literature from Beowulf through Chaucer and Medieval Drama; Reprint Edition, Greenwood Pub Group; ISBN 0-313-23619-4.
Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
Grammar
Biddulph, J. (1985); A Handbook of Mercian: Remarks on the Midland dialect of Late Anglo-Saxon; Pontypridd (Wales); ISBN 0-948565-01-2. (Highly unusual in being a grammar and guide to an Old English dialect. An easy-to-understand survey.)
Blakeley, L. (?); Teach Yourself Old English; London (England): English Universities Press; ISBN 0-340-05810-2. (Standard Teach Youself type book with grammar, texts and full glossary. A useful beginning book clearly set out.)
Brook, G.L. (1945); Notes on Some English Sound-Changes; Leeds (England): University of Leeds Press.
Brook, G.L. (1955); An Introduction to Old English; Manchester (England): Manchester University Press; ISBN 0-7190-0569-8. (A good primer of Old English with ample grammar and sample texts for practice. The layout is also clear.)
Campbell, A. (1987); Old English Grammar; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-19-811943-7. (This is the standard scholarly reference work in English. It goes into great detail and is not recommended for the beginner.)
Diamond, Robert E. (1973); Old English Grammar and Reader; Wayne State University Press; ISBN 0-814-31510-0. US $16.95. (Adequate grammar and a good, well glossed selection of reading texts.)
Dürmüller, Urs, and Hanz Utz (1977); Altenglisch: Eine Einführung; Anglistische Arb.-H., 00012); Tübingen (Germany): Max Niemeyer; ISBN 3-484-40048-X. DM 19,80. (Introduction to Old English; in German.)
Ellis, A.J., ed. (1973 reprint); On Early English Pronunciation; Parts 1-4; EETS; Oxford (England).
Girvan, Ritchie (12931); Angelsaksisch handboek; Haarlem (Netherlands). (Old English manual; in Dutch.)
Hamer, A.J., and J. Bazire (1984); Language Laboratory Course in Old English; Liverpool (England): Liverpool University Press; ISBN 0-85323-085-4. (To be used with the accompanying cassettes. Very methodical.)
Kispert, Robert J. (1971); Old English: An introduction; Holt Rinehart & Winston; ISBN 0-030-83256-X.
Lass, Roger (1994); Old English: A historical linguistic companion; Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press; ISBN 0-521-45848-X. (For linguists; covers phonology, in particular, in great detail.)
Lehnert, Martin (1990); Altenglisches Elementarbuch: Einführung, Grammatik, Texte mit Übersetzung und Wörterbuch; Berlin (Germany): Walter de Gruyter; 10th revised edition; ISBN 3-110-12471-8. DM 19,80 DM. (Introduction to Old English; in German.)
McLaughlin, J. (1983); Old English Syntax: A handbook; Tübingen (Germany): Max Niemeyer; ISBN 3-484-65004-4.
Mitchell, B. (1985); Old English Syntax; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press; 2 vols. (The standard work in English and highly detailed. Designed for scholars.)
Mitchell, B., and Basil Blackwell (1995); An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England; Oxford (England); ISBN 0-631-17436-2. (This is a fine beginner's book, designed to make the learning of Old English as painless as possible. As the title suggests, it also deals with Anglo-Saxon history and culture. For straight language-learning A Guide to Old English - on which this book is based - is betterrr.)
Mitchell, B., F. C. Robinson (1986-); A Guide to Old English; Oxford (England); ISBN 0-631-13625-8. (This is by far the best beginner's book of Old English. It explains grammar in great detail but at a level the beginner will understand. There are numerous examples of usage, a large bibliography split into categories, and the book even has a substantial reading section with some of the finest Old English literature with a complete glossary at the back.)
Nielsen, Hans Frede (1998); The Continental Backgrounds of English and its Insular Development until 1154; Odense (Denmark): Odense University Press; ISBN 87-7838-420-6; 234 pp.; paperback; DKK 220 DKK
Norman Davis, rev. (1953-); Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Primer; ISBN 0-19-811178-9. (Useful, but best used in conjunction with other books, as the lack of detail makes it a less than ideal beginner's book. It includes adequate grammar, with some sample texts and a glossary.)
Pollington, S. (1994); An Introduction to the Old English language and its literature; Anglo-Saxon Books; Norfolk (England); ISBN 1-898-28106-8. (Not a grammar but a guide to the general characteristics of Old English and its literature.)
Pollington, S. (1996); First Steps in Old English; Anglo-Saxon Books; Norfolk (England): Hockwold-cum-Wilton; UK £19.95. (Cassette course with all texts read on the tape. This will also probably become a correspondance course.)
Quirk, R., and C. L. Wrenn (1955); An Old English Grammar; London (England): Methuen's Old English Library; ISBN 0-416-77240-4. (This is a handy and good beginner's book. It goes into considerable detail in the footnotes. It deals with Late West Saxon rather than Early West Saxon with which most primers deal.)
Rask, Rasmus (1817); Angelsaksisk Sproglære; Stockholm (Sweden). (Old English textbook; in Danish.)
Ross, A.S.C. (?); The Essentials of Anglo-Saxon Grammar; Cambridge (England): Heffer & Sons. (Gives the very basics only.)
Sievers, Eduard von (1899); A Grammar of Old English; Boston (USA): Ginn. (Now old-fashioned in design but still of use.)
Sievers, Eduard von, and Karl Brunner (1965); Altenglische Grammatik nach der angelsächsischen Grammatik; Tübingen (Germany): Max Niemeyer. (This is the most detailed grammar of Old English written in any language. Only for the advanced user; in German.)
Sievers, Eduard von, revised by Karl Brunner (1963); Abriss der altenglischen (angelsächsischen) Grammatik; Tübingen (Germany): Max Niemeyer, 16th revised edition; ISBN 3-484-40010-2; 12.00 DM. (Introductory grammar; in German.)
Smith, J.J. (?); Introduction to Old English; (software); Glasgow (Scotland): University of Glasgow.
Weimann, Klaus (1995); Einführung ins Altenglische; UTB/BRO, 3rd revised edition; ISBN 3-825-21210-6; DM 29.80. (Introduction to Old English; in German.)
Wright, J. (1925); Old English Grammar; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press. (Solid, no-nonsense grammar with generous use of examples, especially as regards inflection and word-formation.)
Dictionaries, Lexicons & Thesauri
Barney, S. A. (1985); Word-Hoard: An introduction to Old English vocabulary; New Haven (USA): Yale University Press; ISBN 0-300-03506-3. (A novel way of learning Old English poetic vocabulary with word elements grouped into families for easier recall. The groups are frequency-based.)
Bosworth, Joseph, T. Toller, and T. Northcote (1972); Anglo-Saxon Dictionary; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press; UK £110.00. (This is a standard large dictionary of Old English. It is designed for advanced users and scholars and it is remarkable for its wealth of detail.)
Bouterwek, Karl W. (1849, 1968); Ein angelsächsisches Glossar: Caedmon's des Angelsachsen biblische Dichtungen, II; Sändig Reprint Verlag; ISBN 3-253-01998-5. (Glossary based on Caedmon's works; in German.)
Clark-Hall, J. R. (1960); A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary; Toronto (Canada): University of Toronto Press; ISBN 0-802-06548-1. (The best hand-dictionary. This covers all the student's needs.)
Grein, C. W. M., et al. (1974); Sprachschatz der angelsächsischen Dichter; (Germany): Carl Winter Verlag; reprint; ISBN 3-8253-2324-2. DM 180.00. (Vocabulary of Old English poets; in German.)
Holthausen, Ferdinand (1974); Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch; Carl Winter; ISBN 3-825-30508-2; DM 48.00. (Etymological dictionary. Great for comparison across old Germanic languages; in German.)
Jember, G. K., and F. Kemmler (1981); A Basic Vocabulary of Old English Prose: Grundwortschatz altenglische Prosa; Tübingen (Germany): F. Max Niemeyer; ISBN 3-484-40087-0. (The only book that aims to help the student learn the vocabulary of prose, rather than poetry; in English and German.)
Jember, Gregory K. (1984); English-Old English, Old English-English Dictionary; reissue edition paperback; Westview Press; ISBN 0-891-58006-9. (Useful for writing Old English.)
Madden, J. F., and F. P. Magoun (1967); A Grouped Frequency Word-List of Anglo-Saxon Poetry; (USA) Harvard University Press; ISBN 0-674-36400-7. (Designed to help the student learn the poetic language. Words are put into groups according to frequency.)
Pollington, S. (1993); Wordcraft: Concise dictionary and thesaurus Modern English-Old English; Anglo-Saxon Books; Norfolk (England); ISBN 1-898281-02-5. (Essential if one wants to write Old English. It also helps one learn the vocabulary as synonyms are grouped together under subject headings in the thesarus section.)
Roberts, Jane, Christian Kay, and Lynne Grundy (1995); A Thesaurus of Old English; King's College London Medieval Studies X; in 2 vols., xxxv + 1555 pp.; hardback. (This has become the standard book of Old English synonyms.)
Skeat's English-Anglo-Saxon Vocabulary 1879; Reprint Languages Information Centre, Pontypridd (Wales) 1990; ISBN 0-948-56568-3. (Handlist of words Modern English to Old English.)
Sweet, H. (1989); The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-198-63107-3. (Quite good at the poetic lexicon and word compounding.)
Readers & Anthologies
Diamond, Robert E. (1973); Old English Grammar and Reader; (USA): Wayne State University Press; ISBN 0814315100; US $16.95.
Griffiths, Bill (1990); An Anglo-Saxon Subject Reader - Part 1: The Natural World; London (England).
Hamer, R. (1970); A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse: Selected with an introduction and a parallel verse translation; London (England): Faber & Faber; ISBN 0-571-08765-5. (The Old English poetic texts alongside a parallel Modern English translation. Useful.)
Hill, J. (1983); Old English Minor Heroic Poems; Durham University Press.
Hulbert; James R. (1957); Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader; New York (USA): Henry Holt. (Unusual in also containing quite a full grammar. There is a good selection of texts which are glossed at the back.)
Magennis, H., and I. Herbison (1990); Discovering Old English: Guided readings; Belfast (Northern Ireland): Ultonian Press; ISBN 0-9576597-0-7. (A practical book which helps the reader translate by way of glossaries and a commentary. It has a small grammar and a glossary at the back.)
Muir, Bernard James (1988); A Pre-Conquest English Prayer-Book; Henry Bradshaw Society Publications, No. 103; Suffolk (England): Boydell & Brewer; ISBN 0-950-10095-1.
O'Brien, Katherine (1997); Reading Old English Texts; Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press; paperback ISBN 0-521-46970-8. (Forthcoming)
Quinn, Karen J., and Kenneth P. Quinn (1990); Manual of Old English Prose; Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, vol. 453; Garland; ISBN 0-824-09032-2.
Quirk, R., et al. (1975); Old English Literature: A practical introduction; London (England; ISBN 0-7131-5808-5. (Takes a practical view to reading Old English. The reader is given a minimal grammar and then the texts, with a running gloss to aid translation.)
Sweet, H., and T. Hoad (1978); A Second Anglo-Saxon Reader: Archaic and dialectual; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press. (A good source for non-West Saxon texts. Much of the material consists of Mercian glosses or Kentish psalms.)
Whitelock, D., ed. (1967-); Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader in Verse and Prose; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-19-811169-X. (The standard reader of OE. It includes all the standard reading texts, notes, and a number of examples of dialects. All texts are fully glossed.)
Wyatt, A.J. (1901); An Elementary Old English Reader (Early West Saxon); Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press. (Well-suited for the beginner. Much material is taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.)
Wyatt, A.J. (1947); An Anglo-Saxon Reader; Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press. (A solid reader with a full glossary. The selection of texts may be better suited to the beginner than to most readers.)
Dialectology
Biddulph, J. (1985); A Handbook of Mercian: Remarks on the Midland dialect of Late Anglo-Saxon; Pontypridd (Wales); ISBN 0-948565-01-2.
Biddulph, J. (1995); Northumbrian and Other Languages of the Old North; Pontypridd (Wales); ISBN 1-897999-01-1.
Bryan, W.F. (1915); Studies in the Dialects of the Kentish Charters of the Old English Period; Chicago (USA): University of Chicago Press.
Skeat, W.W. (1912); English Dialects from the Eighth Century until the Present Day; Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press. (A very important work which laid the foundation for later studies.)
Sweet, H., and T. Hoad (1978); A Second Anglo-Saxon Reader: Archaic and dialectual; Oxford (English): Oxford University Press.In
Individual texts
Dickins, B., and A. S. C. Ross (1951); The Dream of the Rood; Methuen's Old English Library; London (England): Methuen. (Includes notes and a glossary to this popular religious poem.)
Eaton, Trevor (1997); Beowulf: Unabridged, read in Anglo-Saxon by Trevor Eaton; Pavillion Records (Pavillion Records Limited, Sparrows Green, Wadhurst, East Sussex, TN5 6SJ England); SHE CDS 9642 2 CD set; approx. 144 minutes; UK £25.90. (Unique being a complete recording of the poem.)
Gordon, I. L. (1960); The Seafarer; Methuen's Old English Library; London (England): Methuen. (The standard edition of this Old English "elegy." It includes notes and a glossary.)
Griffiths, B. (1993); The Battle of Maldon: Text and translation; Norfolk (England): Anglo-Saxon Books. (Provides a reproduction of the Old English manuscript, with transliteration and translation.)
Jack, G. (1994); Beowulf: A student edition; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-19-871044-5. (Clearly laid out, with parallel glosses and notes. This is the best available student edition.)
Klaeber, F. D.C. (1950); Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg; Lexington: Heath. (This is by far the most detailed edition. It is also the most reliable and is the standard text used by scholars.)
Leslie, R.F., ed. (1966); The Wanderer. Manchester (England): Manchester University Press. (The standard edition of this Old English "elegy." It includes notes and a glossary.)
Lucas, P., ed. (1994); Exodus; Exeter (England): Exeter University Press. (Standard edition of this often studied biblically inspired work. It includes copious notes, glossary and a helpful introduction.)
Plummer, and Earle (1972); Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel with Supplementary Extracts from the Others; 2 vols; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press. (This is the standard edition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Notes and gloss are included.)
Scragg, D.G. (1981); The Battle of Maldon; Manchester (England): Manchester University Press. (The standard edition of this heroic poem.)
Smith, A.H., ed. (1080); The Parker Chronicle 832-900; Exeter (England): Exeter University Press; ISBN 0-85989-099-6. (An extract from one of the Anglo-Saxon chronicles. Suitable for translation practice.)
Swanton, M. J., transl. (1995); An Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; Exeter (England): University of Exeter Press; ISBN 0-85989-353-7. (Extracts from one of the Chronicles. Useful for beginners.)
Wrenn, C. L., ed. (1973); Beowulf; London (England): Harrap; ISBN 0-245-51008-7. (A student edition.)
Texts in translation
Alexander, M., transl., ed. (1977); The Earliest English Poems; Penguin Books; ISBN 0-14-044172-7. (Selection of Old English poetry in translation. A good introductory book to Old English poems.)
Ashdown, M. (1930); English and Norse Documents relating to the Reign of Ethelred the Unready; Cambridge (England): Cambridge. (Translation and text of the major documents of this period.)
Bradley, S. A. J., transl. (1982); Anglo-Saxon Poetry; Everyman's Library; London (England): Dent. (A good and varied overall anthology of poems in translation.)
Clark-Hall, J. R., transl. (1950): Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment; George Allen & Unwin. (This is by far the best translation of the poem. It retains the flavor of the Old English without being archaic or unnatural.)
Crossley-Holland, K., transl., ed. (1984); The Anglo-Saxon World: An anthology including the complete Beowulf; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-19-281632-2. (A well-selected mixture of poems and prose in translation.)
Garmonsway, G. N., transl., ed. (1972); The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles; Everyman’s Library; London (England): Dent; ISBN 0-460-8703-6. (The standard edition of the Chronicles in translation.)
Gordon, R. K., transl. (1950); Anglo-Saxon Poetry; Everyman's Library; London (England): Dent. (Includes the complete Beowulf.)
Savage, A., transl. (1982); The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles; London (England): Macmillan; ISBN 0-333-4881-4. (This is a very attractive illustrated edition.)
Swanton, M., transl. (1993); Anglo-Saxon Prose; Everyman's Library; London (England): Everyman; ISBN 0-460-87341-5. (Includes translations of some of the lesser known works.)
Linguistic studies
Clark, J.W. (1959); Early English; London (England): Andre Deutsch.
Frantzen, Allen J. (1990); Desire for Origins: New Language, Old English, and Teaching the Tradition; New Brunswick (USA) and London (England).
Hans Frede Nielsen Institut, eds. (?); Old English and the Continental Germanic Languages: A survey of morphological and phonological interrelations. Innsbruck (Austria): Hans Frede Nielsen Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck; ISBN 3-851-24558-X.
Hetherington, M. Sue (1982); "The Recovery of the Anglo-Saxon Lexicon;" in Carl T. Berkhout and Milton McC. Gatch, eds., Anglo-Saxon Scholarship; Boston (USA), pp. 79-89.
Jordan, R. (1906); Eigentümlichkeiten des anglischen Wortschatzes; Heidelberg (Germany). (Lexical features of Old English; in German.)
Lester, G.A. (1996); The Language of Old and Middle English Poetry; London (England): Macmillan; ISBN 0-333-48847-4. (An attractive study which also clearly shows the change in language from Old to Middle English poetry.)
Meritt, Dean Herbert (1967); Fact and Lore about Old English Words; New York (USA).
Murphy, Michael (1982); "Scholars at Play: A short history of composing in Old English"; Old English Newsletter 15.2, pp. 26-36.
Philips, Andrew (1996); The Rebirth of England and English: The vision of William Barnes; Anglo-Saxon Books; Hockwold-cum-Wilton; UK £9.95. (Biography of Barnes and his attempts to revive Old English words back into English.)
Robinson, Fred C., (1993); "The Afterlife of Old English: A brief history of composition in Old English after the close of the Anglo-Saxon eriod"; in The Tomb of Beowulf and Other Essays on Old English; Oxford (England) and Cambridge (USA), pp. 275-303.
Robinson, Orrin W. (1992); Old English and Its Closest Relatives: A survey of the earliest Germanic languages; Stanford (USA): Stanford University Press; ISBN 0-8047-1454-1 (cloth), 0-8047-2221-8 (paperback). (Unique work. Invaluable for comparison between Old English and other Old Germanic languages.)
Simmons, Clare A. (1992); "'Iron-Worded Proof': Victorian identity and the Old English language", Studies in Medievalism 4, pp. 202-14.
Stanley, E. G. (1990); "Bosworth's Interest in 'Friesic' for His Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language (1838): 'The Friesic Is Far the Most Important Language for My Purpose'"; Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 31-32, pp. 428-52.
Wrenn, C. L. (1933); "Standard Old English"; in Transactions of the Philological Society, pp. 65-88. (Discussion of dialect and standard.)
Wyld, H.C. (1925); "Diction and Imagery in Anglo-Saxon Poetry"; in Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, pp. 49-91.
Yorke, B.A.E (1981); "The Vocabulary of Anglo-Saxon overlordship"; in Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaelogy and History 2.
Literary Criticism
Berkhout, Carl T., and Milton McC. Gatch, eds. (1982); Anglo-Saxon
Scholarship: The first three centuries; Boston (USA); US $26.00. (Very
interesting articles about the early scholars of Old English.)
Bessinger, J. B., and S. J. Kahrl (1968); Essential Articles for the
Study of Old English Poetry; Hamden (USA).
Brodeur, A. G. (1959); The Art of Beowulf; Berkeley (USA).
Brunner, Karl (1954); "Why was Beowulf preserved?"; in Etudes
anglaises 7, pp 1-5.
Busse, Wilhelm G. (1987); Altenglische Literatur und ihre Geschichte:
Zur Geschichte des gegenwärtigen Deutungssystems; Droste; ISBN
3-7700-0808-1; DM 78.00.
Chadwick, H. M. (1955); The Study of Anglo-Saxon; 2nd ed.;
Cambridge (England). (A classic. Chadwick discusses the importance of the
study of Old English and Anglo-Saxon institutions.)
Chambers, R. W., and C. L. Wrenn (1959); Beowulf: An introduction to
the study of the poem; Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press.
(Detailed discussion of the background and historicity of Beowulf.)
Fulk, R. D., ed. (1991); Interpretations of Beowulf: A critical
anthology; Bloomington (USA): Indiana University Press; ISBN
0-253-20639-1. (The best anthology of Beowulf criticism. Includes some
seminal articles.)
Godden, M., and M. Lapidge, eds. (1991); The Cambridge Companion to Old
English Literature; Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press;
ISBN 0-521-37794-3. (Designed for students. It covers most major aspects of
poetry and prose and gives a good grounding in the culture of the time.)
Greenfield, S. B. (1965); A Critical History of Old English Literature;
New York (USA): New York University Press; ISBN 0-8147-2950-9. (A
well-esteemed critical overview of Old English literature.)
Greenfield, S. B. (1972); The Interpretation of Old English Poems;
London (England): Routledge. (Some thought-provoking views on how Old
English literature could be read.)
Greenfield, S. B. (1989); Hero and Exile: The art of Old English poetry;
London (England).
Irving, E. (1968); A Reading of Beowulf; New Haven (USA). ( A
well-regarded critical reading of the poem, designed for students.)
Malone, Kemp (1960); "Grundtvigs oversættelse af Beowulf"; Grundtvig
Studier, pp. 7-25. (Grundtvig's translation of Beowulf; in
Danish.)
McGatch, M. C. (1971); Loyalties and Traditions: Man and his world in
Old English literature; New York (USA).
Ogilvy, J. D. A., and D. C. Baker (1983); Reading Beowulf; (USA):
University of Oklahoma Press, Norman; ISBN 0-8061-2019-3. (Gives a good
orientation and background for students.)
Payne, Richard C. (1982); "The rediscovery of Old English poetry in
the English literary tradition", in Carl T. Berkhout and Milton McC.
Gatch, eds., Anglo-Saxon Scholarship; Boston (USA); pp. 149-166.
Raw, B. C. (1978); The Art and Background of Old English Poetry;
London (England). (A highly regarded study.)
Robinson, Fred C. (1993); Tomb of Beowulf: and other essays; Oxford
(England): Basil Blackwell; UK £45.00. (A fascinating collection of essays,
with a strong emphasis on English antiquarianism.)
Shippey, T.A. (1972); Old English Verse; London (England):
Hutchinson University Library; ISBN 0-091-11031-9. (One of the best
guidebooks to Old English poetry available. Of great use to the student.)
Sisam, K. (1953); Studies in the History of Old English Literature;
Oxford (England): Oxford University Press. (Historicity of Old English texts
and manuscripts.)
Sisam, K. (1965); The Structure of Beowulf; Oxford (England):
Oxford University Press.
Stanley, E. G. (1966); Continuations and Beginnings; Nelson. (Fine
study of Old English literature.)
Swanton, M. (1987); English Literature before Chaucer; London
(England): Longman; ISBN 0-582-49242-4.
Tuso, J. F. ,ed. (1975); Beowulf: A Norton critical edition; New
York (USA): W. W. Norton; ISBN 0-393-09225-0. (The Donaldson translation of
Beowulf and much thoughtful critcism from a variety of sources.)
Wilson, R. M. (1972); The Lost Literature of Medieval England;
London (England). (Discusses what has been lost to us through the ages.)
Wrenn, C. L. (1967); A Study of Old English Literature; London
(England): Harrap. (Good overview of Old English literature, with numerous
examples.)
Onomastics
Björkman, Erik (1973); Nordische Personennamen in England in alt - und
frühmittel-englischer Zeit>>; Tübingen (Germany): Niemeyer; ISBN
3-500-27880-9. (Nordic personal names in the Old and Early Middle English
periods; in German.)
Cameron, Kenneth, and Margareth Gelling, eds. (1976); Place-Name
Evidence for the Anglo-Saxon Invasion and Scandinavian Settlements;
Nottingham (England): English Place-name Society, Nottingham University; UK
£7.50.
Feilitzen, O. (1937); The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of the Domesday
Book; Uppsala (Sweden): Almqvist & Wiksell.
Förster, Th. (1916); The Continental Germanic Personal Names in
England in Old and Middle English Times; Uppsala (Sweden).
Gelling, M. (1988); Signposts to the Past: Place-names and the history
of England; Phillimore; UK £14.99.
Kousgård-Sørensen, J. (1982); Patronymics in Denmark and England;
London (England): Viking Society for Northern Research.
Searle, W. G. (1969); Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum; reprint;
Hildesheim (Germany): Georg Olms. (The best collection of Old English
personal names available.)
Seltén, Bo (1972); The Anglo-Saxon Heritage in Middle English Personal
Names: East Anglia 1100-1399; Lund (Sweden).
Transition from Old English to Middle English
Allen, Cynthia L. (1995); Case Marking and Reanalysis: Grammatical
relations from Old to Early Modern English; Oxford (England): Clarendon
Press; ISBN 0-198-24096-1.
Brook, G.L. (1945); Notes on some English sound-changes; Leeds
(England): University of Leeds Press.
Chambers, R.W. (1990); On the Continuity of English Prose from Alfred
to More and His School; Oxford (England): Early English Text Society; UK
£10. (A useful study highlighting the essential continuity of the Old
English prose tradition into Middle English times, despite the Norman
Conquest.)
Ellis, A. J., ed. (1973 reprint); On Early English Pronunciation, Parts
1-4; Oxford (England): EETS.
Freeborn, D. (1992); From Old English to Standard English; London
(England): Macmillan; ISBN 0-333-53768-8.
Godden, M., ed. (1994); From Anglo-Saxon to Early Middle English:
Studies presented to E.G.Stanley; Oxford (England): Oxford University
Press; UK £37.50.
Lester, G. A. (1996); The Language of Old and Middle English Poetry;
London (England): Macmillan; ISBN 0-333-4884-7.
Malone, Kemp (1930); "When did Middle English Begin?", in Curme
Volume of Linguistic Studies, pp. 110-117.
Swanton, Michael (1987); English Literature Before Chaucer; Longman
Literature in English Series; London (England): Longman; ISBN 0-582-49242-4.
Wakelin, M. (1988); The Archaeology of English; London (England):
Batsford; ISBN 0-7134-5556-X.
Middle English
Grammar
Bähr, Dieter (1993); Einführung ins Mittelenglische; UTB /BRO;
ISBN 3-8252-0361-1; DM 24.80. (Introduction to Middle English; in
German.)
Bennett, J. A. W., and E. V. Smithers (1968); Early Middle English
Verse and Prose; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press; ISBN
0-19-871101-8. (Includes a grammar. The best such book dealing with early
Middle English, including many reading texts and full glossary.)
Brunner, Karl (1967); Abriß der mittelenglischen Grammatik; Tübingen
(Germany): Max Niemeyer; ISBN 3-484-40011-0; DM 12.00. (Outline of Middle
English grammar; in German.)
Brunner, Karl (1974); An Outline of Middle English Grammar;
Textbook Binding; Folcroft Library Editions; ISBN 0-841-41371-1.
Burrow, J. A., and T. Turville-Petre (1992); A Book of Middle English;
Oxford (England), Cambridge (USA): Blackwell; ISBN 0-631-16726-9. (A very
useful book which includes full grammar, many reading texts of different
genres, and a glossary.)
Dürmüller, Urs, and Hans Utz (1974); Mittelenglisch: Eine Einführung;
Tübingen (Germany): Max Niemeyer; ISBN 3-484-40040-4; DM 17.80.
(Introduction to Middle English; in German.)
Jones, Charles (1972); Introduction to Middle English; Irvington;
ISBN 0-891-97800-3.
Jordan, Richard (1968); Handbuch der mittelenglischen Grammatik:
Lautlehre; Klaus Carl Winter; ISBN 3-8253-0494-9. DM 55.00. (Manual of
Middle English grammar; in German.)
Jordan, Richard (1974); Handbook of Middle English Grammar:
Phonology; Janua Linguarum Series Practica No. 208; Berlin (Germany): Walter
De Gruyter;ISBN 9-027-93302-2.
Mosse, Fernand (1969); Handbook of Middle English; Baltimore (USA):
Johns Hopkins University Press; UK £33.00. (Designed for students. Includes
all areas of grammar, as well as texts for reading and a glossary.)
Mossé, Fernand (1986); Mittelenglische Kurzgrammatik: Lautlehre,
Formenlehre, Syntax; Max Hueber; ISBN 3-19-002164-3; DM 33.80. (Concise
grammar of Middle English: Phonology, morphology, syntax; in
German.)
Roseborough, Margaret M. (1970); Outline of Middle English Grammar;
Greenwood; ISBN 0-837-14324-1.
Sweet, H. (1948); First Middle English Primer; Oxford (England):
Oxford University Press. (Not as elementary as the title suggests, it covers
mainly early Middle English.)
Wardale, Edith E. (1937); Introduction to Middle English; Ams
Press; ISBN 0-404-14626-0.
Wright, J. (1973); An Elementary Middle English Grammar; Oxford
(England): Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-19-811925-9. (A clear, well
laid-out grammar of Middle English. Should be of primary help to students.)
Readers & Anthologies
Barron, W. R. J. (1987); English Medieval Romance; Longman
Literature in English Series; London (England): Longman; ISBN 0-582-49220-3.
Bennett, J. A. W., and E. V. Smithers (1968); Early Middle English
Verse and Prose; Oxford (England): Oxford University Press; ISBN
0-19-871101-8. (Includes a grammar. The best such book dealing with early
Middle English, including many reading texts and full glossary.)
Davies, R.T., ed. (1963); Medieval English Lyrics: A critical anthology;
London (England): Faber & Faber; ISBN 0-571-06571-6.
Dickens, B., and R. M. Bowes (1951); Early Middle English Texts;
Cambridge (England): Bowes & Bowes.
Duncan, Thomas G., ed. (1996); Medieval English Lyrics: 1200-1400;
Penguin Classics; Penguin USA; ISBN 0-140-43443-7.
Emerson, Oliver F. (1978); Middle English Reader; Ams Press; ISBN
0-404-14784-4.
Fellows, Jennifer, ed. (1993); Of Love and Chivalry: An anthology of
Middle English romance; London (England): Everyman's Library; ISBN
0-460-87237-0.
Fernández, Francisco (1998); Middle English Texts: translation and
philological commentary; Valencia (Spain): Albatros. 204 pp., paperback
Gardner, John (1973); The Alliterative Morte Arthure, the Owl and the
Nightingale, and Five Other Middle English Poems in a Modernized Version;
Arcturus Books, Ab 116; (USA): Southern Illinois University Press; ISBN
0-809-30648-4.
Haskell, Ann S., ed. (1985); A Middle English Anthology;Waynebook,
50; Reprint Edition Published by Wayne State University Press; ISBN
0-814-31798-7.
Luria, M. S., and R. L. Hoffman, eds. (1974); Middle English Lyrics: A
Norton critical edition; New York (USA): W. W. Norton; ISBN
0-393-09338-7. (Includes helpful notes for the student.)
Sands, B. (1986); Middle English Verse Romances; Exeter (England):
University of Exeter Press. (A student edition, fully glossed including such
genres as the Breton Lays.)
Sisam, K. (1921); Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose; Oxford
(England): Oxford University Press. (Reprinted many times later.)
Turville-Petre, Thorlac (1989); Alliterative Poetry of the Later Middle
Ages: An anthology; Routledge Medieval English Texts; (USA): Catholic
University of America Press; ISBN 0-813-20674-X.
Geoffrey Chaucer's Work and Times
Andrew, Malcolm, ed. (1991); Critical Essays on Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales; (Canada): University of Toronto Press; ISBN 0-802-05005-0.
Benson, L. D., ed. (1987); The Riverside Chaucer; Oxford (England):
Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-19-282109-1. (This is the standard edition
of Chaucer's works. Includes copious notes and full glosses.)
Brewer, Derek (1992); Chaucer and His World; Woobridge (England):
Brewer; ISBN 0-859-91365-1.
Burnley, D. (1989); The Language of Chaucer; London (England):
Macmillan.
Chaucer, Geoffrey; Canterbury Tales; Everyman Series; Reprint Edition
1991; London (England): Dent; ISBN 0-460-87027-0.
Davis, N. et al. (1979); A Chaucer Glossary; Oxford (England):
Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-19-811171-1. (A helpful student supplement
to Chaucer studies.)
Hussey, M., A. C. Spearing, and J. Winny (1965); An Introduction to
Chaucer; Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press. (Introductory
guide dealing with literary genres, influences, language and the culture and
politics of the time.)
Kökeritz, Helge, ed. (1979); Guide to Chaucer's Pronunciation;
(Canada): University of Toronto Press; UK £2.50.
Smith, Jeremy, ed. (1989); The English of Chaucer and His
Contemporaries; Aberdeen (Scotland): Aberdeen University Press; ISBN
0-080-36403-9.
Other Authors and their Works
Anderson, J. J., and A. Cawley (1991); Sir Gawain and the Green Knight;
London (England): Dent; ISBN 0-460-87101-3. (For students. A glossary is
supplied for translation purposes.)
Barron, W. R. J., and S. C. Weinberg, transls., eds. (1989); Lagamon's
Arthur: The Arthurian section of Lagamon's Brut; Essex (England):
Longman; ISBN 0-582-03485-X. (Provides original text and translation of the
Arthurian section of Lawman's famous alliterative poem. A solid student
edition.)
Benson, Larry D. (1995); King Arthur's Death: The Middle English
stanzaic Morte Arthur and alliterative Morte Arthure; Exeter
Medieval English Texts and Studies; Reissue Edition; Exeter (England):
University of Exeter Press; ISBN 0-859-89267-0.
Hudson, Harriet, ed. (1996); Four Middle English Romances: Sir
Isumbras, Octavian, Sir Eglamour of Artois, Sir
Tryamour; Middle English Texts; Kalamazoo (USA): Western Michigan University
Press; ISBN 1-879-28863-X.
Langland, William, and A. V. C. Schmidt, eds. (1992); Piers Plowman: A
new translation of the B-Text; The World's Classics; Oxford (england):
Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-192-82587-9.
Lawman, Rosamund Allen, transl. (1993); Brut; Everyman's Library;
London (England): Everymans Library; ISBN 0-460-87021-1.
Mills, Maldwyn, ed. (1993); Six Middle English Romances; Everyman's
Library; Reissue Edition; London (England): Everyman's Library; ISBN
0-460-87225-7.
Rumble, Thomas (1965); Breton Lays in Middle English; (USA): Wayne
State University Press; ISBN 0-814-31265-9.
Smithers, G. V., ed. (1987); Havelok; Oxford (England): Clarendon
Press; ISBN 0-198-11939-9.
Tolkein, J. R. R., ed. (1988); Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Reissue
Edition, Ballantine Books; ISBN 0-345-27760-0. (The standard scholarly
edition of this poem.)
Vantuono, William, transl. (1995); Pearl: An edition with verse
translation; (USA): University of Notre Dame Press; ISBN 0-268-03810-4.
References, Linguistic Studies, and Dialectology
Biddulph, J. (1987); Early Kentish Dialect: An informal portrait;
Pontypridd (Wales); ISBN 0-948565-31-4. (Unique look at the south-eastern
dialect of medieval England.)
Björkman, Erik (1972); Scandinavian Loan-Words in Middle English;
Scholarly Press; ISBN 0-403-00450-0. (Of prime interest to etymologists and
local historians.)
Burnley, J. D., Matsuji Tajima, and David Burnley, eds. (1994); The
Language of Middle English Literature; Annotated Bibliographies of Old
and Middle English Literature, vol, 12;. University of Rochester Press; ISBN
0-859-91405-4.
Gillis, Kristensson (1987); Survey of Middle-English Dialects,
1290-1350: The West Midland Counties; (UK): Chartwell-Bratt; UK £24.90.
Ker, W.P. (1962); Medieval English Literature; Oxford (England):
Oxford University Press. (A classic work, with much emphasis on the romance
genre in Middle English.)
Kurath, H., and S. M. Kuhn, eds. (1954-); Middle English Dictionary;
Ann Arbor (USA): Ann Arbor. (The work for this multi-volume dictionary is
ongoing. Many volumes have now appeared.)
Lester, G.A. (1996); The Language of Old and Middle English Poetry;
London (England): Macmillan; ISBN 0-333-48847-4.
Lindkvist, H. (1912); Middle English Place-Names of Scandinavian Origin;
Uppsala (Sweden).
Malone, Kemp (1930); "When did Middle English Begin?", in Curme
Volume of Linguistic Studies, pp. 110-117.
McIntosh, Angus, M. L. Samuels, and Margaret Laing (1989); Middle
English Dialectology: Essays on Some Principles and Problems; Aberdeen
(Scotland): Aberdeen University Press; ISBN 0-080-36404-7.
Seltén, Bo (1972); The Anglo-Saxon Heritage in Middle English Personal
Names: East Anglia 1100-1399; Lund (Sweden).
Literary Criticism & Guidebooks
Bennett, J. A. W. (1990); Middle English Literature; Oxford History
of English Literature, vol. 1; Reprint Edition; Oxford (England): Oxford
University Press; ISBN 0-198-11970-4.
Brewer, Derek, Jonathan Gibson, eds. (1997); A Companion to the
Gawain-Poet; Arthurian Studies; University of Rochester Press; ISBN
0-859-91433-X.
Burney Trapp, Joseph, ed. (1973); Medieval English Literature; The
Oxford Anthology of English Literature; Oxford (England): Oxford University
Press; ISBN 0-195-01624-6.
Burrow, John Anthony (1982); Medieval Writers and Their Work: Middle
English literature and its background 1100-1500; Oxford (England):
Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-192-89122-7.
Duboulay, F. R. H. (1991); The England of 'Piers Plowman': William
Langland and his vision of the fourteenth century; Cambridge (England):
Boydell & Brewer; ISBN 0-859-91312-0.
Edwards A. S. G. (1984); Middle English Prose: A critical guide to
major authors and genres; Rutgers University Press; ISBN 0-813-51001-5.
Hines, John (1993); The Fabliau in English; Longman Medieval and
Renaissance Library; London (England): Longman; ISBN 0-582-03733-6.
MacHan, Tim (1994); Textual Criticism and Middle English Texts;
(USA): University of Press of Virginia; ISBN 0-813-91508-2.
Putter, Ad (1997); An Introduction to the Gawain-Poet; Longman
Medieval and Renaissance Library Series; London (England): Longman; ISBN
0-582-22574-4.
Stevens, Martin (1987); Four Middle English Mystery Cycles: Textual,
contextual, and critical interpretations; (USA): Princeton University
Press; ISBN 0-691-06714-7.
Trigg, Stephanie, ed. (1993); Medieval English Poetry; Longman
Critical Readers; London (England); Longman; ISBN 0-582-08261-7.
Turville-Petre, Thorlac (1996); England the Nation: Language,
literature, and national identity, 1290-1340; Oxford (England):
Clarendon Press; ISBN 0-198-12279-9.
Veldhoen, N. H. G. E., and H. Aertsen, eds. (1995); Companion to Early
Middle English Literature; Amsterdam (Netherlands): Vu University of
Press; ISBN 9-053-83349-8.
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