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

Introduction

AS THE privilege of writing a foreword to the rec-. ord of Howard Pyle's work has come to one of
his pupils, the point of view cannot be other than that
of student to master. Perhaps, after all, his great appeal as
a man can be better revealed from this exceptional and intimate relationship; and, as an artist must be greater than
his works, so, it seems to me, the humblest efforts to tell of
the man are to some purpose.
I am hardly the one to write of the tremendous impulse
Howard Pyle gave to the improvement of magazine and
book illustration, or of his intense earnestness and enormous
success in emerging from the slackwater period in art which
came at the end of the Victorian era-a period singularly
stagnant in the field of graphic expression. With what
energy and courage he pushed forward, almost alone,
pouring into his hundreds of illustrations such sincerity and
enthusiasm, such dramatic force, that the world of cultivation paused to look upon and applaud his efforts.
Meanwhile, his astonishing fertility of imagination and
unequaled energy were producing written story after story
for young readers, books which have since become juvenile
clasi'cs: The Wonder Clock, Pepper and Salt, several rich
volumes dealing with King Arthur and his knights, and
his now famous Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, recognized in England today as the supreme modern interpretation in words and pictures of their beloved legend-these
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