Richard Marsden is Emeritus Professor of Old English at the University of Nottingham. In addition to numerous articles on Old English literature and language and the history of the Latin Bible, he has published The Text of the Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, 1995) and an edition of The Old English Heptateuch for the Early English Text Society (2008).

Preface to the second edition; Preface to the first edition; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Beginning Old English; 1. Getting started; 2. Practice sentences; 3. Practice texts; 4. Keys to test sentences and texts; 5. Beginning poetry; The Texts: Part I. Teaching and Learning: 1. In the Schoolroom (from Ælfric's Colloquy); 2. A Personal Miscellany (from Ælfwine's Prayerbook); 3. Medicinal Remedies (from Bald's Leechbook); 4. Learning Latin (from Ælfric's Excerptiones de arte grammatica anglice); 5. A New Beginning (Alfred's 'preface' to his translation of Gregory's Cura pastoralis); 6. The Wagonwheel of Fate (from Alfred's translation of Boethius's De consolatione Philosophiae); Part II. Keeping a Record: 7. Laws of the Anglo-Saxon Kings; 8. England under Attack (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annals for 981-93, 995-8 and 1002-3); 9. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People; 10. The Battle of Brunanburh; 11. The Will of Ælfgifu; 12. The Fonthill Letter; Part III. Spreading the Word: 13. After the Flood (from the Old English Hexateuch: Gen 8.6-18 and 9.8-13); 14. The Crucifixion (from the Old English Gospels: Mt 27.11-54); 15. King Alfred's Psalms; 16. A Translator's Problems (Ælfric's preface to his translation of Genesis); 17. Satan's Challenge (Genesis B, lines 338-441); 18. The Drowning of Pharaoh's Army (Exodus, lines 447-564); 19. Judith; Part IV. Example and Exhortation: 20. Bede's Death Song; 21. Two Holy Women; 22. A Homily for Easter Sunday (from Ælfric's Sermones catholicae); 23. The Dream of the Rood; 24. On False Gods (Wulfstan's De falsis deis); 25. The Sermon of the Wolf (Wulfstan's Sermo Lupi); 26. The Seafarer; Part V. Telling Tales: 27. Falling in Love (from Apollonius of Tyre); 28. The Trees of the Sun and the Moon (from The Letter of Alexander); 29. Cynewulf and Cyneheard (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annal for 755); 30. The Battle of Maldon; 31. Beowulf; 32. The Fight at Finnsburh; Part VI. Reflection and Lament: 33. Truth is Trickiest (Maxims II); 34. The Durham Proverbs; 35. Five Anglo-Saxon Riddles; 36. Deor; 37. The Ruin; 38. The Wanderer; 39. Wulf and Eadwacer; 40. The Wife's Lament; Manuscripts and textual emendations; The writing and pronunciation of Old English; Reference grammar of Old English; Glossary; Guide to terms; Index.