The Water of the Wondrous Isles

The Water of the Wondrous Isles is a fantasy novel by William Morris, perhaps the first modern fantasy writer to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural, and thus the precursor of much of present-day fantasy literature. It was first published in hardcover by Morris' Kelmscott Press in 1897. Its importance in the history of fantasy literature was recognized by its republication by Ballantine Books as the thirty-eighth volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in November, 1971. The Ballantine edition includes an introduction by Lin Carter.

Morris considered his fantasies a revival of the medieval tradition of chivalrous romances, in consequence they tend to have sprawling plots of strung-together adventures.

– from Wikipedia