--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "bty85561953" <jstafford07@...>
wrote:

>
> as a complete beginner to old norse apart from gordons Introduction
> to old norse... what other textbooks do u consider a beginner should
> have in their library/grateful for any constructive suggestions

To quote a couple of entries in the Old Norse Online bibliography:

"Old Icelandic: an Introductory Course, by Sigrid Valfells and James
Cathey; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1982. The only grammar of Old
Norse (restricted to Old Icelandic proper, though this is not much of
a restriction) set out in a series of graded lessons. Extremely
user-friendly, with a wealth of grammatical information. Now
out-of-print."

"A New Introduction to Old Norse, by Michael Barnes; Viking Society
for Northern Research, 1999. This book, together with the Reader and
Glossary by Anthony Faulkes (in separate volumes), serves as an
excellent introduction to the language for the novice. Though not laid
out in lessons like Valfells and Cathey, Barnes' book nevertheless
proceeds gently to lead the beginner through the novelties of
languages with a robust case-system and verbal morphology. A nice
introduction for those with limited foreign-language experience."

A New Introduction to Old Norse is published by The Viking Society for
Northern Research. There are a lot of other useful books in their
catalogue, including some student editions of sagas with normalised
spelling, glossaries and notes, which can be tackled once you've got
the hang of the basics.

UK: http://www.le.ac.uk/ee/viking/publications.htm
US: http://asu.edu/clas/acmrs/publications/mrts/vsnr.html

Here are links to some online resources for beginners:

http://www.oe.eclipse.co.uk/nom/norselinks.htm#beg

Besides Nourse Course, there is a very detailed course called Old
Norse Online [
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/norol-TC-X.html ], and
one or two older textbooks now available on the internet, e.g. Henry
Sweet's Icelandic Primer [ http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5424 ].