William Morris’s copy of a renowned Arthurian Grail narrative

Wolfram von Eschenbach (attrib.), but Albrecht von Scharfenberg. Jüngerer Titurel.

€ 230,000.00

First edition, William Morris’s copy of one of the most celebrated Arthurian romances recounting the quest for the Holy Grail. The Grail legend was a profound influence on Morris and, through him, on the Arts and Crafts movement; scenes from Grail literature appear repeatedly in his designs for tapestries, stained glass, and decorative arts, and in his prose and poetry.

This copy was given to Morris by his friend, F. S. Ellis (1830-1901), the bookseller, author, official buyer for the British Museum, and a friend and publisher of Rossetti and Ruskin. Ellis edited Morris’s Kelmscott editions of Caxton’s Golden Legend (1892) and Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey (1893).

The text was wrongly ascribed in the Middle Ages to the great epic poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, but the true author is Albrecht von Scharfenberg. It continues the story of Wolfram’s "Parzival", not as a strict sequel but by reworking and expanding on Wolfram’s unfinished Titurel fragments. The author, who names himself “Albrecht” toward the end of the work, acknowledges his debt to Wolfram and develops the master’s Titurel strophe on a much larger scale. Presumably owing to their length, the strophes are set not in verse lines but in paragraphs with the line endings punctuated. It is sometimes bound with Parzival, printed by Mentelin also in 1477.

Providing backstories for several major characters in the Parzival story, "Der jüngere Titurel" narrates the courtly love of the knight Schionatulander for Parzival’s cousin Sigune, describing chivalric festivities, travels in the Middle East, and the origin of the Grail, among other subjects. Composed in the 13th century, its popularity endured through the 15th century. Unlike Wolfram’s fragment, which is concise and allusive, Albrecht’s version elaborates richly, adding descriptions, side plots, and extended monologues. Its description of the Grail Temple is considered the most important architectural description of the German Middle Ages, and it influenced the design of the chapel at Karlstein and the Wenceslaus Chapel in St Vitus’s Cathedral at Prague.

The present copy has fol. 33 in the first state: the first line of text is omitted in type and filled in by a contemporary hand, and the last line of text is printed but crossed out. This state is also in the second copy at the Germanisches Museum, Nuremberg, but it is more commonly corrected with the first line (“wirdikait vil ungeletzet. Ward”) added in type and the last line omitted.

Rare on the market: only three copies are recorded on Rare Book Hub.