This book provides a stylistic analysis of Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur , bringing together an array of linguistic frameworks and tools to provide new readings of the canonical Arthurian text. Having subjected the text to digital analysis, it uses parallel comparison of its two earliest versions - one manuscript, one print - as a basis to explore the ways texts and styles develop. It makes the fundamental claim that such comparison affords us a unique opportunity to understand literary composition and reception at a watershed historical moment as it uncovers the ways in which the text was constructed, transmitted, classified, and read.