Pyle, Howard - Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (New York, 1883), title-page / HTN collection.

Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classic Comics, No. VII) (New York, Dec. 1942), front cover (first Classic Comics edition) / MyComic­Shop.com.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-08. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-07.

Together with the Gest of Robyn Hode and Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1820), Howard Pyle's Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883) is arguably the most influential of all works of Robin Hood fiction. Inspired by renaissance traditions, directly or perhaps more likely indirectly through Scott's Ivanhoe, Pyle chose to locate the life of Robin Hood during the reign of Richard I (1189-99) rather than that of "our comely King Edward" as in the Gest, but apart from this the book follows the ballads quite closely in terms of plot and incidents. Pyle is far from the first writer to avail himself of the fact that the ballads, done into prose and arranged in proper sequence, provide a 'life of Robin Hood'. In fact the earliest English children's books on Robin Hood tended to be such prose renderings of the ballads. What distinguishes Pyle's book is especially the nostalgic tone, evident also in the author's masterly drawings.

Editions

Original language

• Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (New York, 1883)
• Pyle, Howard; Lübcke, F., transl.; Daugaard, Jacob, transl. Det Lystige Æventyr om Robin Hood, den Berømte Røver fra Nottinghamshire (København, 1894)
• Pyle, Howard. 'The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood', in: Darah, Jane, ed.; Martignoni, Margaret E., ser. ed. and introd.; Shores, Louise, ed.-in-chief. Legends of Long Ago (Collier's Junior Classics, vol. 7) (New York, 1962), pp. 233-76
• Pyle, Howard; Olsen, Ella Willy, transl. Den Vidtberømte Robin Hood og hans Muntre Eventyr ([s.l], ©1972)
• Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (New York, 1985)
• Pyle, Howard; Knight, Stephen, introd. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire Eight printing (New York, 2006)

Translations

Danish

• Pyle, Howard. Robin Hood (Chr. Erichsens Børnebøger). 4th printing (Copenhagen, 1924)

Comic book versions

English

• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classic Comics, No. VII) (New York, Dec. 1942)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classic Comics, No. VII) (New York, [1943-c.1946])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classic Comics, No. VII) (New York, [1943-c.1946])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classic Comics, No. VII) (New York, [1943-c.1946])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classic Comics, No. VII) (New York, [1943-c.1946])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classic Comics, No. 7) (New York, [1943-c.1946])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1947-c.1955])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1947-c.1955])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1947-c.1955])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1947-c.1955])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1947-c.1955])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1947-c.1955])
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, Nov. 1955)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, Nov. 1957)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1957-1964)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1957-1964)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1957-1964)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1957-1964)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, June 1964)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, May 1965)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, July 1966)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, Dec. 1967)
• Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, June 1969)

Danish

• Anonymous. Robin Hood, in: Hjorth-Jørgensen, Anders, ed.; Nielsen, Michael G., ed. Illustrerede Klassikere, vol. 10 (Copenhagen, 2008), pp. 7-62

Studies and criticism

• Chapman, James. 'Chapman, James. "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and the Origins of the Television Swashbuckler', Media History, vol. 17 (2011), pp. 273-87
• Gaylord, Alan T. '"There was something about him that spoke of other things than rags and tatters": Howard Pyle and the Language of Robin Hood', in: Potter, Lois, ed.; Calhoun, Joshua, ed. Images of Robin Hood: Medieval to Modern (Newark, 2008), pp. 153-73
• May, Jill. 'Robin Hood's Home Away from Home: Howard Pyle and His Art Students', in: Potter, Lois, ed.; Calhoun, Joshua, ed. Images of Robin Hood: Medieval to Modern (Newark, 2008), pp. 138-52
• Pedersen, Viggo Hjørnager. 'Make it New: Howard Pyle's Robin Hood', in: Caie, Graham D., ed.; Nørgaard, Holger, ed.; Harder, Peter, gen. ed.; Nielsen, Jørgen Erik, gen. ed.; Nixon, Ingeborg, gen. ed. A Literary Miscellany presented to Erik Jacobsen (Copenhagen, 1988), pp. 338-52
• Wikipedia: Howard Pyle
• Wikipedia: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood.

Image gallery

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  Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (New York, 1883), title-page / HTN collection.

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  Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classic Comics, No. VII) (New York, Dec. 1942), front cover (first Classic Comics edition) / MyComic­Shop.com.

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  Anonymous. Robin Hood (Classics Illustrated, No. 7) (New York, [1947-c.1955]), front cover (first Classics Illu­strated edition) / MyComic­Shop.com.

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