Reginald Heber (1783 –1826) was the Church of England Bishop of Calcutta, he was educated at Oxford University. Reginald is best known for the hymn ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’. He travelled around India consecrating Churches and setting up schools. He died after plunging into a swimming pool to cool off after giving an impassioned speech against the inequality of the caste system.

Although known for his hymns, he had a collection of poems published entitled ‘The Poetical Works of Reginald Heber’ (Philadelphia: E.H. Butler, 1870), from which a Latin poem called Carmen Seculare and an English poem called Palestine won prizes. He was a Doctor of Divinity and Lord Bishop of Calcutta, later of all India and Australia. Rev. M.A. De Wolfe Howe said of him in his introduction to his poetry book “There is no name in the annals of the present century, which awakens so universal and grateful an interest in the religious world, as that of Reginald Heber”.

Reginald’s poems fall into the Romantic literary period, which is echoed in atypical ways by his poems, such as the love of God. According to The Classical Encyclopaedia, Reginald Heber was “a pious man of profound learning, literary taste and great practical energy”. Fifty-seven of his hymns appeared in ‘Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year’ (London: J. Murray, 1827). The release of this book commemorates the 200th anniversary of his passing.

The legend of King Arthur has more than any other captured the imagination of the Western world. This new take by a writer from the Romantic period gives an almost classical insight with a poetic phraseology. Not to be confused with Le Morte D’Arthur by Thomas Malory, Reginald Heber’s Morte D’Arthur paints an intriguing picture of the world of Arthur, Merlin and Guinevere (here referred to as Ganora), with an exciting new take.

Arthurian themes are further developed in Heber’s play in verse ‘The Masque of Gwendolen’. The fragment of a play is based on Chaucer’s ‘Wife of Bath’s Tale’ from The Canterbury Tales. However it is brought to life instead by the characters of Titania (fairy queen) and her fairies, and Merlin and Gawain; a new spin on an old plot twist. The language of these epic poems is archaic but beautiful and understandable. For example ‘Grayle’ is obviously ‘Grail’.

Reginald Heber is the great great great grandfather of Edward Durand, who produced this edition, and who recited his epic poem Morte d’Arthur in its entirety at an event in Glastonbury Abbey, where the grave of King Arthur lies.