literature; — sommer. 199 



LITERATURE. 



Sommer, H. Oskar, "Astolat," Camberley, Surrey, England. Grant No. 

 417. Preparation of results of researches on Arthurian romances. (For 

 previous report see Year Book No. 5, p. 203.) $2,000. 



Dr. Sommer reports the completion of work as follows : 



The transcript of manuscript Add. 10293, flf. 1-129^ forming the third 

 volume of "The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances," collated with 

 the original manuscript and with four other manuscripts at the British 

 Museum, containing the same part. 



Studying the false Guenever episode in the second part of the Lancelot, 

 and preparing a text of it from the manuscript in the possession of Mr. Henry 

 Yates Thompson, London, and two manuscripts in the Bibliotheque Na- 

 tionale, Paris, to form an appendix to volume 4 of "The Vulgate Version." 



The examination of the section corresponding to the first three volumes in 

 all the manuscripts of the Bibliotheque Nationale ; Bibliotheque de I'Arsenal, 

 Paris ; Bibliotheque du Roi, Bruxelles ; the Philips collection, Cheltenham ; the 

 manuscript in the Rhylands library, Manchester, and that of Mr. Henry Yates 

 Thompson, London, and in the British Museum. 



Contributions to Romania and Modem Philology have been published, 

 which bring the writer's studies of the last eleven years to a successful con- 

 clusion, recalling and reconstructing the trilogy, a cycle embodying the prin- 

 cipal branches of the Arthurian romances, the various parts of which exist in 

 the libraries of Lisbon, Paris, Madrid, I^ondon, Edinburgh, Venice, and 

 Vienna. With the help of the knowledge of the manuscripts in Paris and 

 London, Dr. Sommer has been able to offer a natural and plausible explana- 

 tion of the many difficulties previously unsolved. 



During a visit to Vienna for the purpose of examining the Portuguese 

 manuscripts, it was possible to make an examination of the three Tristan 

 manuscripts in the Imperial Library. 



