Publisher's Synopsis
Sir George Webbe Dasent (1817-1896), was an English writer who was educated at Westminster School, King's College London, and Oxford University, where he was a contemporary of J. T. Delane. In 1840 he was appointed to a diplomatic post in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1842 he published an English translation of The Prose or Younger Edda. In 1843 he translated Rask's Grammar of the Icelandic or Old-Norse Tongue, taken from the Swedish. Returning to England in 1845 he became assistant editor of The Times under Delane. In 1853 he was appointed professor of English literature and modern history at King's College London and in 1859 he translated Popular Tales From the Norse (Norske Folkeeventyr) by Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe, including in it an "Introductory Essay on the Origin and Diffusion of Popular Tales. " His most well-known work, The Story of Burnt Njal, a translation of the Icelandic Njal's Saga that he had first attempted while in Stockholm, was issued in 1861. Subsequent to a visit to Iceland in 1861-1862, he published in 1866 his translation of Gisli the Outlaw from the Icelandic.
