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

THE MIDDLE A GES
by the critics. In them there is again the similarity to Duiirer,
but the outstanding characteristic is Howard Pyle at his
best, Howard Pyle painting something that he loves and
putting himself thoroughly into it. He considered the
"Friar Bacon" as the best of the pictures from the technical
point of view, but admitted that the "Caxton" was the best
subject. Their popularity among connoisseurs is well attested by the fact that they are being continually sought for
throughout book and art stores today.
After the success of Robin Hood, it evidently occurred to
Howard Pyle that something of the same nature might
be done for King Arthur, and when, nearly twenty years
after the publication of that first success, he continued to
receive letters from devoted admirers begging him to write
a book dealing with the Arthur legend, he finally wrote to
Scribners on March 3, 1902:
"It has been suggested to me that I write a book somewhat matching the Robin Hood but giving the adventures
of King Arthur and his Knights. The suggestion has been
lying in my mind for some time and the more I think over
it the more feasible the project seems to me to be. It should,
I think, be written in the same direct and homely English
of the Robin Hood but with a more mature and poetic
finish. As the Robin Hood was my first work I should,
probably, make this the last of its kind.. 0. )
Scribners, in spite of the fact that they already had three
Arthur books on their list, fell in with the idea at once,
saying that they could "easily imagine that Howard Pyle
might give a distinction both of form and of substance to
the Arthur legend which would detach it decidedly from
all other books dealing with the same subject." Accord[ 127]1