I agree. The early days of a love affair with an author have a unique excitement about them, though there is something equally beautiful about those later times when the affair has turned into a full and intimate friendship, as I hope I will find in Pyle one day.

Yes, I love the Moomins too. I posted a while ago about how I was introduced to them.

I am very glad that you lent it to me.

Howard Pyle is indeed a treasure and I agree with your comments. I found the book in a used bookstore in Southampton several years ago while on vacation there. There is a depth to the story which I found both a little frightening and compelling at the same time. It was a page turner; I could not put it down.

When I searched out Howard Pyle I was fascinated once again to find an artist-illustrator who other artists, now recognized as fine artists, respected so highly. In the current fine art world I do not find this to be the case; illustrators are looked down upon as less skilled somehow. My own experience has been just the opposite: I find them to be as adept or even moreso than some of the artists who make the art history tomes. They seem able to draw the magic from that etherworld flowing silently and invisibly within our own dimension and illuminate us with its presence and the many things it can unfold to us.

I’m so glad you enjoyed the book and that it opened your world a bit more; it certainly did the same for me!