Howard Pyle, a chronicle by Charles D. Abbott, with an introduction by N. C. Wyeth and many illustrations from Howard Pyle's works.

HOWARD PYLE: A CHRONICLE
is admirable and many of the pictures are suggestive and
effective. That old witch in the Essex woods comes before
me whenever I drive through the favorite road which goes
from Manchester to Essex.
"I am thankful that my other poems fell into such good
hands-I know the risk one runs in having a poem 'illustrated' by persons who will not take the trouble to enter into
the author's idea and often utterly misrepresent him.
"Thanking you for all your good scenes and the very
handsome book, I am, my dear sir,
"Very sincerely yours,
"OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES."
With these pictures of the Middle Ages, especially those
for Men of Iron, which so admirably interpreted the spirit
of the period, Howard Pyle gained a nation-wide reputation as a medievalist. So far-reaching was this fame, in
fact, that he was desired on all sides to illustrate articles
and tales which would give him an opportunity of using
this talent. First it was Bret Harte's "Birds of Cirencester"
in Scribners for January, 1898, and some Don Quixote
pictures in the Century in i9oI. About i9oo, or a little
after, great improvements in the methods of color reproduction were made, and he began to turn his attention to
paintings in full colors. For Harper's he began a series of
illustrations for medieval stories, many of which came from
the pen of James Branch Cabell. These pictures with their
gorgeous harmonies of brilliant colors made a lasting impression both on the publishers and on the public. Their
tendency was to minimize his earlier work-the pen-andinks and the black-and-white oils-in favor of these new
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