"A Masterpiece"

With all the remakes and re-envisioning of old films and books, I'm surprised that a 21st century version of T.H.White's Arthurian/Merlinesque adventures hasn't been made ala Lord of the Rings' digital film magic. 

The musical Camelot was based somewhat on White's Once and Future King, and Disney did the animated Sword in the Stone,  but it would be nice to see a faithful version of White's unique version translated to the screen. And, of course, Alan Lee should be the visionary for it, as he partly was for Peter Jackson's LoTR.

I know, at this point it would be like one more Gandalf or Dumbledore, even though Merlin was the original once and future wizard, and isn't there room for more in our collective imagination?

Alan Lee — The Sword in the Stone

King Arthur Connections

Neil O'Keeffe was an illustrator/cartoonist that had a long career in the early/mid 20th century. He illustrated the book immediately below, In the Court of King Arthur, published in 1918. The color illustrations in it are reminiscent (to me) of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, even though it predates that comic strip by a generation.

I have to wonder what connections there may be here between O'Keefe and Foster. They were born within a year of each other in the 1890s, and died within a somewhat close time of each other in the 1980s, both working as illustrators turned cartoonists during those long years of the 20th century.

O'Keeffe's style in this book looks somewhat like Foster's, even with Valiant's pageboy haircut on display. Yet O'Keeffe's cartoon style that he used in Dick's Adventures, years later (seen at the bottom of this post), looks (to me) very similar to the comic strip style that John Cullen Murphy used when he replaced Foster on the Prince Valiant strip.

O'Keeffe and Foster seemed to cross paths in Chicago and elsewhere in their early illustration careers. O'Keefe, Foster and Murphy all worked for the King Features Syndicate (owned and guided by William Randolph Hearst), during a concurrent period in the 1950s, Murphy drawing Big Ben Bolt.

To further mystify my curiosity, the fellow who wrote Dick's Adventures was Max Trell, and that same Max Trell wrote the text for Hal Foster's hard cover Hastings House adaptations of Prince Valiant in the 1950s.

I've casually tried to find an official connection between O'Keeffe and Foster, such as a friendship or sitting at the same table at the NCS gatherings, or anything—to no avail. There may be no connection whatsoever, but if anyone knows more of the backstory alluded to here, please do let me know. The most curious thing to me is the similarity of this book's illustrations to the later Prince Valiant, not saying whether Foster was influenced or not.

Neil O'Keeffe — In the Court of King Arthur — cover

1918

endpapers

This and most other black and white illustrations in the book (most not shown) seem stylistically to belong to another hand.

The one below initialed G.G.

half-title

frontis piece and title page

Below, an O'Keeffe magazine illustration from 1950

Below, O'Keeffe's cartooning style on Dick's Adventures that I feel is reminiscent to John Cullen Murphy's style on Prince Valiant.

Four Color #245

Breathtaking Brilliance

The 1912 book presented here, Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur, created by Alberto Sangorski, is page-for-page the most beautiful publication I've ever seen.

Illuminated as of old, it is breathtaking in its brilliance. Any other words are superfluous.

Alfred Lord Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur

"Designed, Written Out, and Illuminated"

by Alberto Sangorski —1912

Arthurian Obscurity

For collectors of all things Arthurian, here's an obscurity— a souvenir program from the 19th century play King Arthur by J.Comyns Carr, starring Henry Irving as Merlin.