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
he came to write about the grim old sea captains who
figured in so many of his later stories.
The Rose of Paradise has a real pirate character, the
redoubtable Edward England. As the first of Howard
Pyle's buccaneers he deserves some attention: a ruffianly,
profane, but somewhat ironical man, combining with a hard
unflinching exterior, one mite of generosity and kindliness
which is so small as to be almost imperceptible. He is
drawn by the author with a keenness of perception that
makes him stand out clearly and strongly as a bad man
redeemed by an almost unconscious emotional mercy. He
attracts and repels simultaneously; one irresistibly admires
his devil-may-care attitude, loathes his murderous impulses,
and loves his rare moments of moral susceptibility. There
are other well-drawn characters in the book-Captain John
Mackra, ndif and courageous; Captain Edward Leach,
superficially well-bred, but villainously deceitful. These
men are drawn with consummate skill; they are real persons with no breath of bookishness about them. The
women, however, are hardly worthy of such high praise;
they are adequate but by no means convincing. The story
itself is full of movement; there are bloody battles with
the pirates, thrilling escapes and breathless suspense, while
over it all hovers the glowing light of the gigantic ruby,
the Rose itself. It is not great literature, but, to use the
famous words of Sir Philip Sidney, it is "a tale which
holdeth children from play and old men from the chimney
corner." The illustrations were done in black-and-whit'e,
and were full of an atmosphere that added immeasurably
to the thrill, but they were by no means the masterpieces
of pirate picture that were to come later.
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