Illustrating Camelot

An account in words and pictures of how the world of Camelot and King Arthur’s knights was reflected in, and shaped by, book illustration.Arthurian book illustration, which came into its own in the Arthurian Revival of the nineteenth century and began to flourish as an important art form, has done more than any other visual art to shape notions of King Arthur and his court and to introduce the legends to the widest possible audience. Yet to date there has been no comprehensive study of Arthurian illustration. Illustrating Camelot fills this critical gap, by examining the special collaboration between illustrators and authors and exploring the ways that the best Arthurian illustrators move beyond mere reproduction to become interpretive readers of the texts they embellish. In versions that range from illustrated editions of Tennyson’s Idylls of the King to the numerous editions and popular children’s retellings of Malory’s Morte d’Arthur and in forms that range from Julia Margaret Cameron’s landmark photographic portraitsto Russell Flint’s lush watercolours, from Gustave Doré’s Gothic-styled engravings to Howard Pyle’s American-inspired drawings, these illustrators – as this pioneering volume demonstrates – not only reinterpret the timeless talesbut also reflect the values of their age. Richly illustrated with both colour and black and white plates, the book will appeal to anyone interested in the stories of King Arthur and the world of Camelot. BARBARA TEPA LUPACK is former Academic Dean at SUNY and Fulbright Professor of American Literature in Poland and France.