Pirates, Patriots, and Princesses: The Art of Howard Pyle (Dover Fine Art, History of Art)

Howard Pyle was not only the father of American illustration but he was also a gifted writer and teacher. Many great American illustrators and painters such as N.C. Wyeth, Frank Schnoover, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Maxfield Parish and Allen True were students at the private school Pyle established at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. There can be no doubt Pyle had a great influence on American art during the Twentieth Century.There is a real need for a detailed study of Howard Pyle's life and work. Unfortunately, "Pirates, Patriots and Princesses" does not fulfill this need. Dover Publishing has done the world a great service with many of the low cost books they have published over the years. However, they should keep away from art books. The paper in this book is cheap and the quality of the reproductions is poor. While Pyle's images are compelling, the poor quality of the printing will only dissapoint. One day, someone will produce a coffee table book of Howard Pyle's work and it will be a success. His illustrations are just too compelling to relegated to an obscure Dover Publishing title.

I have a,copy of Pyles pirate book and have kept since I was in highschool. Many of the pictures are classic,and are accepted as what most people see the image of a pirate and there history.

All of this type of painting is a lost art in the age of Kindle and printshop. Most kids books are cardboard cutouts. Old illustrators showed us their imagination with warts and cruelty and this was one of the best. Someone else probably decided what he should paint but you will enjoy his range of action and color.

I love illustrations and Howard Pyle is one of my favourite illustrators. The book is of good size and the paper quality is of the best. I'd only wish for it having more content, but I like very much anyway.

Unfortunately, the image reproduction isn't very good. Could go all the way back to image capture, pre-press or even press work. My thinking is that this book, along with other inexpensive publications, are gang run which would account for lots of in-line problems. Color not the least of which.

silly redundant book with poor prints...not one of my best purchases!

Nice reproductions of Pyle's work make up the bulk of this slim volume. However, if you are looking for more in depth information on Pyle's life and work this is not the place to find it.

Howard Pyle is, perhaps, the dean of American illustrators, up there with the great N. C. Wyeth and Charles Dana Gibson as the progenitors of what we now have come to think of as illustration in America. The visions we see in our collective imaginations of knights on gleaming chargers, dastardly pirates, and other such images truly began with Pyle's brush. "Pirates, Patriots, and Princesses" (hereafter referred to as PP&P) is a nice, if slim, volume of Pyle's art, but might not be the single best one to get.Within PP&P you'll find a number of wonderful paintings, from Pyle's famed illustration of Blackbeard's demise, to the mournful "Marooned," and others that you will doubtless be looking for. This book focuses on his paintings of pirates, the American Revolution, and various chivalry/mythology-related works. It's very nice to have an inexpensive volume of Pyle's work available, and the book is printed on good quality paper. What troubles me about the book is, first, that some of the works are in black and white (not many, but enough to be perturbing) and printed far too small to be truly appreciated. For instance, my personal favorite, "Marooned," is printed much smaller than a postcard and is somewhat disappointing. Dover might have done better to give the paintings a single page treatment apiece. As it is, this is really just a minor introduction to Pyle, rather than a standard work. For those looking to begin an interest in Pyle, Wyeth, and others, this is a good place to start, but you may want to look at other books as well.

Appreciate the book, however the plates could be clearer and the pictures could be bigger. Thank you.

La calidad artística de las ilustraciones es muy buena, pero lamentablemente, la edición que ha hecho Dover deja bastante que desear, hasta el punto de que la mayoría de ellas carecen de definición e incluso están desenfocadas. Es una pena, un clásico como este se merece una edición a la altura y no lo que he recibido hoy.No recomendable.

Pubblicazione non molto ampia ma che riesce a dare la percezione del talento di Howard Pyle.Considerando prezzo qualità è sufficientemente consigliabile a tutti.