Gift ideas --art, literature, books for children; New knights of round table; Le Morte D'Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory, edited by Robert Lumiansky. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 750 pp. $12.95.

This beautifully printed version of the 15th-century Arthurian cycle contains all eight parts of the original in one volume, with five fine color reproductions of medieval depictions.

This version differs in one important respect from the 1962 translation of Malory by poet Keith Baines. In effect, Baines took Malory's material and simply retold the stories in his own modern English. This version by medieval scholar Lumiansky is a translation rather than a retelling, and, as such, retains more of the language, idiom, and flavor of the original without sacrificing readibility.