Translations

The Saga Library

Each volume may be accessed from its own portal.

CONTENTS

VOLUME 1 trans. Morris, "collated" by Eirikr Magnusson, 1891: The Story of Howard the Halt; The Story of the Banded Men; The Story of Hen Thorir;

VOLUME 2, trans. Morris, "collated" by Eirikr Magnusson, 1892: The Story of the Ere-Dwellers (Eyrbyggja Saga); The Story of the Heath-Slayings (Heibarviga Saga);

VOLUME 3, trans. Morris, "collated" by Eirikr Magnusson, 1893: Heimskringla [Stories of the Kings of Norway]I, The Story of the Ynglings; The Story of Halfdan the Black; The Story of Harald Hairfair; The Story of Hakon the Good; The Story of King Harald Greycloak and of Earl Hakon the son of Sigurd; The Story of King Olaf Tryggvison;

VOLUME 4, trans. Eirikr Magnusson, "collated" by Morris, 1894: Heimskringla II, The Story of Olaf the Holy, the Son of Harald;pdf

VOLUME 5, trans. Eirikr Magnusson, "collated" by Morris, 1895: The Story of Magnus the Good, The Story of Harald the Hard-Redy, The Story of Olaf the Quiet; The Story of Magnus Barefoot; The Story of Sigurd the Jerusalem-farer, Eystein, and Olaf; The Story of Magnus the Blind and Harald Gilli; The Story of Ingi, Son of Harald, and his Brethren; The Story of Hakon Shoulder-Broad; The Story of King Magnus, Son of Erling;

VOLUME 6, Magnusson, 1905: Heimskringla IV, Preface (discussion by Eirikr Magnusson of the creation of the Saga Library), Introduction: on Snorri Sturlason's life and works; indexes; corrections; genealogies. Essay "William Morris," first published in Cambridge Review, November 1896.

 

• Introduction by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson

   

• The Story of King Magnus Son of Erling, Huntington Library Manuscript, HM 6463
• The Story of King Harald, calligraphic manuscript, MA 3471 [bound with Halfdan the Black]
• The Story of Halfdan the Black, calligraphic manuscript, MA 3471 [bound with King Harald]
• The Story of Sigurd the Jerusalem-farer, Eystein and Olaf, edited in Karl Anderson, "Scandinavian Elements in the Works of William Morris." Diss., Harvard University, 1940, 623-866 ~ Scan of accessible pdf files.
• The Story of Magnus the Blind and Harald Gilli. Images courtesy of the Berg Collection, New York Public Libary, Saga Library, vol. 5.
• Manuscript fragments:
  • "Bjorn's brother there saw they," verse rejected from "The Story of Hakon." 23 lines, cancelled. Huntington Library Manuscript, HM 6428, f. 45. WM's note explains that sts. 2-4 had been written for "Hakon's Song" (ff. 50-51).
  • "The King set there a-singing," unidentified verse from "The Story of Hakon." 4 lines from end of chatper 10. Huntington Library Manuscript 6428, f. 24.
  • "Wrath giver well would try him," verses from "The Story of King Olaf Tryggvison." 8 lines cancelled. Huntington Library Manuscript 6437, f. 16.
  • "In steel storms far more mighty," cancelled draft. 8 lines, on 2 pages (one leaf) numbered 109. Huntington Library Manuscript HM 6437, f. 95r-v.
  • "Jutland's king <in land now let him>," poem included in the manuscript of "The Story of Olaf the Holy" as a drottkvaett stanza, but does not appear in the published text of Saga Library, vol. 4.
  • "The Tale of Norn-Guest," unpublished translation of the Icelandic "Nornagests Dattr." B. L. Ms. Add. Ms. 45,317, ff. 19-28, rectos only.
  • 'Howard the Halt," Fitzwilliam Museum  MS270 ff. 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140; and "A Gloss on the story of Haward by William Morris," ff. 241, 242, 243. (click on individual folio to see image); this is transcribed in the "List of Poems of the Earthly Paradise Period," no. C-72.
  • Thorbiorn, translation, Cheltenham Public Library, 9ff., 8 v. Ends, "below the ridge was a great pond: from the boat-house the foreshore was to be seen, but from the shingle-ridge. . ."
  • "The Words of Snorri Sturleson, Cheltenham Public Library, 2ff. and 1v. Introduction by Snorri--has written olden tales in the Danish tongue.

Supplementary

Anderson, Karl. "Scandinavian Elements in the Works of William Morris." Diss., Harvard University, 1940. ~ Scan of accessible pdf files.

Discusses the Saga Library, 343-58, 360-65, and 885-91; Howard the Halt, 977-91; Eyrbyggja Saga 867-84, 885-925, and 949-55; Prologue to the Heimskringla 956-66; Haraldssaga, 967-76; Old Icelandic usages in Morris's poetry, 993-98.

Barribeau, James Leigh. "William Morris and Saga-Translation: ''The Story of Magnus the Son of Erling'," The Vikings, ed. R. T. Farrell, London: Phillimore, 1982; Cornell: Cornell University Press, 1983. [pdf]

Litzenberg, Karl. "Contributions of the Old Norse Language and Literature to the Style and Substance of the Writings of William Morris, 1856-76."Diss., University of Michigan, 1933. - Scan of accessible pdf files.

Litzenberg, Karl. "William Morris and Scandinavian Literature: A Bibiographical Essay." Scandinavian Studies and Notes, January 1, 1933, 93-105.

Litzenberg, Karl. "William Morris and the Heimskringla." Scandinavian Studies and Notes 14.3 (1936), 33-39.

Litzenberg, Karl. "William Morris and the 'Literary' Tradition." Michigan Alumnus Quarterly Review 53 (1946), 48-55.

Morris, William. "The Early Literature of the North--Iceland," The Unpublished Lectures of William Morris. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1969.

Simpson, John M. "Eyrbyggja Saga and Nineteenth Century Scholarship." Proceedings of the First Internaitonal Saga Conference, Edinburgh, 1971. London: Viking Society, 1973, 360-94.

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