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Fiction

The Wanderer and Other Old-English Poems

£70

Illustrated By Alan Lee

Translated By Michael Alexander

Foreword By Bernard O'Donoghue

A timeless collection of heroic, haunting and lyrical Old-English verse. Translated by Michael Alexander and brought vividly to life by Alan Lee, these poems mark the beginning of English literature – and still speak across the centuries.

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The Wanderer and Other Old-English Poems

£70

Book Details

Production DetailsBound in blocked cloth with inset label
Gilded top edge
Slipcase covered in cloth
Ribbon marker

Dimensions9½ inches × 6¾ inches (24.1 × 17.2 cm)

FontTypeset in Arcadian Bembo

Pages240

Illustrated ByAlan Lee

IllustrationFrontispiece and 7 integrated full-colour illustrations

Publication Date05/05/2026

PrintingFirst Printing

Editor's Notes

This Folio book weaves together great works of Old English literature – from heroic poems to ancient riddles – with illustrations by the legendary artist Alan Lee.

First published in 2018 as a Limited Edition, The Wanderer and Other Old-English Poems returns here in a beautifully reimagined form. Bound in pale blue cloth, it features an inset label showcasing Lee's delicate illustration for ‘The Seafarer’. Inside, it retains all the illustrations from the original, from the clashing armies of ‘The Battle of Maldon’ to the solitary figure of ‘The Wanderer’.

Synopsis

Over 1000 years ago, Old-English poetry emerged with striking originality when visionary Anglo-Saxon ruler Alfred the Great sought to replace Latin with English as the principal language of his kingdom. Verse in the vernacular flourished and, at the turn of the 11th century, monastic scribes wrote down these innovative oral compositions, creating the first literature in English. Just decades later, the Norman invasion transformed England’s language and culture so completely as to render these verses the remnants of a forgotten tongue. Rediscovered in the 19th century, their power – heroic, haunting and lyrical – remains undimmed.

The Wanderer and Other Old-English Poems gathers together the miraculous surviving works in the language and their vivid translations by Michael Alexander. Alan Lee, master of mythic imagery and Oscar-winning conceptual artist, brings a breath-taking vision to these early works with illustrations that reimagine the poems as a modern illuminated manuscript. Delicate watercolours conjure ruins and battles, borders twist with dragons and broken harps and riddles reveal their secrets in tangled ink and runes. This is where English literature begins – and still speaks.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Alan Lee

Alan Lee was born in London, England, in 1947. He attended the Ealing School of Art to study graphic design, concentrating on the depiction of Celtic and Norse myths. Lee is one of the most celebrated living illustrators of myth and fantasy: a recipient of the Kate Greenaway Medal and an Oscar-winner for his conceptual work on Peter Jackson's films of The Lord of the Rings.

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ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Alan Lee

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ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Alan Lee

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ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Alan Lee

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ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Alan Lee

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About the Introducer

Bernard O’Donoghue (born 1945) is a distinguished Irish poet, scholar, and critic. Born in Cullen, County Cork, he moved to England in his youth and became a long-standing Fellow in English at Wadham College, Oxford.

His poetry is celebrated for its colloquial grace, blending rural Irish memory with scholarly precision. His collection Gunpowder (1995) won the Whitbread Poetry Award in 1995, and he has been shortlisted multiple times for the T.S. Eliot Prize. Beyond his own verse, O’Donoghue is a renowned medievalist and translator, notably producing a modern version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

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The Wanderer and Other Old-English Poems