Le Morte Darthur, by Sir Thomas Malory (Oxford, £7.99 in UK)

Malory wrote his Arthurian stories - they can scarcely be called an epic, or even a chronicle - about the year 1470. This edition, while using modern spelling, is claimed to be closer to his original manuscript than to the version which William Caxton printed and which has been the standard one until now. Tales of chivalry and jousting, enchanters and holy hermits, the Sangreal and all the rest of Malory's storytelling props may be utterly out of fashion, yet his book has served as an imaginative treasure-house for English writers including Tennyson, William Morris and, more recently, Louis MacNeice. It is, in several respects, the first English novel, and for those in tune with its romantic-medieval world, its spell is still potent.