What Will the Author Think?

“Appreciative praise is always delightful, especially so from an author whom one has been called upon to illustrate. I always wonder what effect my crude materialistic rendering of his airy fancyings will have upon the poet; will he be indignant or will he be amused? Will he grind his teeth or will he grin? Pegasus flies well with quills to his wings; convert the feathers to lead pencils and the poor nag must perforce stumble along the rocky way as best he can.”

Howard Pyle to Edmund Clarence Stedman, July 26, 1888.