The long-lost conclusion to The Once and Future King, in which King Arthur faces his final battle against his son. This magical account of King Arthur’s last night on earth, rediscovered in a collection of T. H. White’s papers at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, spent twenty-six weeks on the New York Times bestseller list following its publication in 1977. While preparing for his final, fatal battle with his bastard son, Mordred, Arthur returns to the Animal Council with Merlyn, where the deliberations center on ways to abolish war. More self-revealing than any other of White’s books, Merlyn shows his mind at work as he agonized over whether to join the fight against Nazi Germany while penning the epic that would become The Once and Future King. The Book of Merlyn has been cited as a major influence by such illustrious writers as Kazuo Ishiguro, J. K. Rowling, Helen Macdonald, Neil Gaiman, and Lev Grossman. “Arriving from beyond the curve of time and apparently from the grave, The Book of Merlyn stirs its own pages, saying, wait: you didn’t get the whole story. . . . It gives us a final glimpse of those two immortal characters, Wart and Merlyn, up close, slo-mo, with a considered and affectionate scrutiny. The book is an elegiac posting from a master storyteller of the twentieth century. Its reissue in our next century is just as welcome as when it first arrived forty years ago. . . . Certainly the moral questions about the military use of force perplex the world still. . . . The efficacy of treaties, the trading of insults among the potentates of the day, the testing of weapons, the weaponizing of trade—these strategies are still front and center. Rather terrifyingly so. We do well to revisit what that old schoolteacher of children, Merlyn, has been trying to point out to us about power and responsibility.” —Gregory Maguire, bestselling author of Wicked,from the foreword “Such a small thing, The Book of Merlyn, to hold so much. Joyful and despairing, heartbreaking, yet full of hope. As wonderful and fearful to read today as it was when I first found it in 1978. And the world has as much need of it today as it did then—more, perhaps. But will the world be ready to listen?” —Mercedes Lackey, New York Times–bestselling author of the Valdemar and Elves on the Road series

Merlin remains the most famous and familiar image of the magician we possess. In this new book, Arthurian expert John Matthews examines the many guises of Merlin.

The Book of Merlin continues the epic saga of the battle between good and evil first begun in Doner’s book, Merlin’s War: The Battle between the Family of Light and the Family of Dark. From the origin of the angels, to the creation of the dragon race, to the humans Atum and Eve in paradise, and the fall of Atlantis, Merlin illuminates these stories and places them into a comprehensible framework. For the first time, Merlin explains the origins of the demonic race through the fallen angel Lilith, and how darkness re-entered the Earth after the Great Flood. Merlin also talks about his “boots on the ground” incarnations, and how his energy has been sent through various human beings to assist in the uplifting of the human race. Present-day dilemmas and the options for solving the myriad of problems facing humanity are also explored. And finally, a look at the future potential possibilities for both the Earth and humanity are considered. As always, Merlin empowers the reader to think for themselves, and to consider their impact on others and Mother Earth as mastery requires self-reflection.

Merlin remains the most famous and familiar image of the magician we possess. In this new book, Arthurian expert John Matthews examines the many guises of Merlin.

This book deals with all aspects of the Merlin legend, from its origins to its expression in medieval and modern literature, film, and popular culture. Following an extended introduction and a full bibliography, the volume offers nearly twenty essays--some newly commissioned for this volume, others selected from the most important scholarly and critical studies of Merlin and his role. Two of the reprinted essays are translated into English for the first time.