1895 The Saga of King Olaf Tryggwason, who Reigned over Norway A.D. 995 to A.D. 1000

Description

First Edition, Publishers' Original Binding, Very Scarce

The very scarce first edition of this work to be translated by J. Sephton from the original Old Norse sagas.

Olaf Trayggvason was King of Norway between 995 and 1000, and according to later sagas, the great-grandson of the first king of Norway. Two Latin versions of Olaf's saga were written in the 1190s by Oddr Snorrason and Gunnlaugr Leifsson. Now lost, they are thought to have formed the basis of the many later Old Norse sagas.

This work was translated from the text of the Fornmanna Sogur, printed in Copenhagen in 1825.

From the library of Audrey Pleydell-Bouverie, an extravagant socialite and renowned beauty of the Edwardian period. Impeccably connected, Pleydell-Bouverie was also the illegitimate granddaughter of King Edward VII, and rumoured to be a lover of King Edward VIII. A sparkling figure of fashionable society, her friends included Nancy Mitford, Coco Chanel, Winston Churchill, and Fred Astaire.

This work is from the sale of Pleydell-Bouverie’s library at Julians Park, Hertfordshire. She purchased the home in 1940, redesigning the interior and amassing an impressive library, featuring many examples of her own bookbinding.