From the time he was a very small boy, Howard Pyle (1853-1911) loved pictures, especially the pictures in storybooks. At the age of twenty-one, Pyle began to contribute illustrations and fables to St. Nicholas magazine and later went on to write and illustrate books for children. His first was The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883). Many more books followed, including Pepper and Salt; or , Seasoning for Young Folk , Otto of the Silver Hand , Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates , and The Story of King Arthur and His Knights . He also taught illustration at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia and later set up his own art school in Wilmington, Delaware.

John F. Plummer is professor of English at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches medieval literature. He has published books and articles on Geoffrey Chaucer, and articles on Sir Thomas Malory and other medieval French and English Arthurian romances.