xxvii + 260 pp.; many color illus., mainly photographs of artifacts, places, and manuscript images. A lavishly illustrated reissue of Heaney's full translation, with images (selected and edited by Niles) facing nearly every page of the text. The translation is preceded by Heaney's introduction (vii-xxiv) and acknowledgments (xxv-xxvi) and David's "Note on Names" (xxvii) from the 1999 publication; it is followed by genealogical tables, a substantial new Afterword by Niles ("Visualizing Beowulf," 213-49), Works Cited (251-55), and credits and acknowledgments for the illustrations (257-60).

The translation begins, facing a photograph of a model of a viking ship:

So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by
and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.

There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,
a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes.
This terror of the hall-troops had come far.
A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on
as his powers waxed and his worth was proved.
In the end each clan on the outlying coasts
beyond the whale-road had to yield to him
and begin to pay tribute. That was one good king. (3)

And ends, facing a photograph of a barrow:

Then twelve warriors rode around the tomb,
chieftains' sons, champions in battle,
all of them distraught, chanting in dirges,
mourning his loss as a man and a king.
They extolled his heroic nature and exploits
and gave thanks for his greatness; which was the proper thing,
for a man should praise a prince whom he holds dear
and cherish his memory when that moment comes
when he has to be convoyed from his bodily home.
So the Geat people, his hearth-companions,
sorrowed for the lord who had been laid low.
They said that of all the kings upon the earth
he was the man most gracious and fair-minded,
kindest to his people and keenest to win fame. (209)

BAM.