The Earthly Paradise

Local Description

4 volumes. Parts I & II, 10th ed. Parts III & IV, 8th ed. Part I, March/April; Part II, May/June/July/August; Part III, September/October/November; Part IV, December/January/February. Half morocco and marbled boards. Marbled endpapers. Raised bands to spines. A handsome set.

Description

The Earthly Paradise by William Morris is an epic poem. It is a lengthy collection of retellings of various myths and legends from Greece and Scandinavia. Publication began in 1868 and several later volumes followed until 1870. Morris uses a frame story concerning a group of medieval wanderers searching for a land of everlasting life. After much disillusion, they discover a surviving colony of Greeks with whom they exchange stories. The poem is divided into twelve sections, each section representing a month of the year and containing two tales told in verse, drawn largely from classical mythology or medieval legends, including the Icelandic sagas.