The Long Ships: A Saga of the Viking Age by Frans G. Bengtsson soon to be presented for sale on the super BookLovers of Bath web site!
Published: London: Collins, 1957, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Contains: Maps to the endpapers and blanks;
From the cover: THE LONG SHIPS is the story of a fighting man in a lawless age. While still a boy, Orm, himself the son of a famous pirate, was shanghaied by Vikings on the threshold of his home in southern Sweden. He sailed with them marauding against the Franks and Spaniards, was captured by the Moors and spent several years as their galley-slave, escaped to Ireland, partook in the defeat of Ethelred the Unreadys army at the Battle of Maldon of 991, fought for his honour against King Sven Forkbeards champion at King Harald of Denmarks Christmas feast, and journeyed down the half-known rivers of Russia in search of gold.
In this remarkable novel, a great scholar and imaginative artist recreates the Vikings and the world that revealed itself to their fearless, childlike eyes. With them we range the uncharted seas and rivers of tenth-century Europe, voyaging into the rumoured lands across the world the England of Ethelred, the Ireland of Brian Boru, Moorish Spain, the Byzantium of Basil and Gonstantine, and a Russia inhabited by wild and merciless tribes. We witness the triennial Viking parliament at the great stone, where disputes were decided by the assembled warriors, or when these disagreed, by combats to the death; the coming ol Christianity to the heathen North; life in the dragon-prowed long ships and the Moorish galleys, among the head hunters of the Dnieper valley, and in the courts of kings. The Long Ships is written with a gusto and humour as uninhibited as the men and women around whom the story is woven. It is a very exciting, a very funny and a very moving book.
Good in Poor Dust Wrapper. Unlaminated dust wrapper a little edgeworn and faded with a little loss and a long tear to the head of the join of the upper panel. Gently bruised at the head, tail and corners of the binding. Edges of the text block lightly spotted. Pages lightly age-tanned.
Blue boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 511 pages. 8″ x 5½”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one, may I excite you with my selection contained in Fiction Author: B catalogue?
BookLovers of Bath 