A study of the Winchester Manuscript by Eugene Vinaver, indicates that Caxton made changes in chapter rubrics and linkages that make more unity of these Arthurian tales than Malory intended. Vinaver's edition (1947), which has become the standard edition of the text, insists that the collection of tales be called
The Works of Sir Thomas Malory and not be given
Le Morte Darthur as an inclusive tide. Criticism of Malory since Vinaver's edition, especially the collection of essays
Malory's Originality (1964), has worked to reestablish the unity of Arthur's story, while making allowances for the anachronisms and inconsistencies (such as dead characters appearing in later tales). The resurfacing of the Winchester Manuscript reminds us that Malory's literary career ended right at the cusp that separated hand copying of manuscripts from printing. When Malory died (perhaps of the plague) in 1471, he could not have imagined any other transmission of his text than by the labor of hand copying. Given the length of the manuscript, one can imagine that very few such copies were made. Yet when, less than fourteen years later, Caxton set out to print the book, he guaranteed not only that Malory would be vilified for the so-called immorality of the popular book, but also, since Caxton set up as what we would now call a publisher rather than simply a printer, that the book would be launched by a preface that trumpeted the book's morality.
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