of Doncaster or Arthur a Bland. Men of Iron Men of Iron is an 1891 novel about squire Myles Falworth who hopes to become a knight, thereby redeeming his family's honor. His father was falsely implicated in a plot to kill King Henry IV. The adventure tale follows Myles through his intensive training for knighthood and ends with him becoming a knight and challenging the wicked Lord Brookhurst Alban to trial by combat. The novel was adapted into the 1954 film The Black Shield of Falworth starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Other works Otto of the Silver Hand, about the son of a robber baron during the medieval period. Rejected of Men: A Story of To-day (1903), setting the story of Jesus as if it had occurred during early twentieth-century America. The Wonder Clock (1887), a collection of twenty-four tales, one for each hour of the day. Each tale was prefaced by a whimsical verse telling of traditional household goings-on at that hour. His sister Katharine Pyle wrote the verses. Pyle created the tales based on traditional European folktales. Pepper and Salt, or Seasoning for Young Folk, traditional tales for younger readers which he also illustrated. After his death, a publisher collected a number of his pirate stories and illustrations and published them as Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates (1921). Critical response Pyle was widely respected during his life and continues to be well regarded by illustrators and fine artists. His contemporary Vincent van Gogh wrote in a letter to his brother Theo that Pyle's work "struck me dumb with admiration." Pyle's reputation stems from his innovation in form and illustration, creating an American school of illustration and art, and for the revival of children's books. His illustrations are vivid and imaginative, yet not overly fantastic or contrived, lending them an air of colorful realism. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism notes: As time passed, Pyle's historical position as the founder of a distinctly American school of illustration and art, as the innovator who introduced the total-design approach, and as the great reinventor of children's books, would outshine any single work he did, so that he is remembered less for any one project than for his total stance. He had a lasting influence on a number of artists who became notable in their own right. Some of his more notable students were N. C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Elenore Abbott, Ethel Franklin Betts,