Dora Curtis

Photograph of Dora Curtis (detail), 1914.

Beatrice Clay's Stories from King Arthur and His Round Table is a reworking of her earlier book, Stories from Le Morte Darthur and the Mabinogion. In the later version, Clay included additional material on Morgan le Fay. That new material is reflected in illustrations by Dora Curtis (British, 1875-1920), especially in the color frontispiece depicting Morgan. Clay said of Morgan that “the difficulty of handling this somewhat unpleasant character was so great that, practically, she did not appear in the first edition of this little work. It was pointed out to me, however, that Arthurian stories that had nothing to tell about this great sorceress were somewhat in the case of a ‘Hamlet’ without the Ghost, and so I have now endeavored to include her story by treating it with a boldness that, I trust, may not be inexcusable.”

Indeed, the inclusion of Morgan is part of a pattern in the early sections of the book of focusing on wicked but powerful women who are given prominence in the illustrations. While there are also some fine images of male characters, Curtis’s emphasis on women in the illustrations reflects Clay’s emphasis on them in the text.

Of the Birth of Sir Tristram, original drawing by Dora Curtis. 

Displayed here are illustrations by Dora Curtis for Beatrice Clay’s Stories of King Arthur and the Round Table (1905), including the cover art and artwork for the spine; the frontispiece watercolor illustration of Morgan le Fay; and five original pen-and-ink drawings (“The Grail,” “Of the Birth of Sir Tristram,” “Sir Gawain,” “Lancelot Denied a Vision of the Grail,” and “Arthur Entrusting Excalibur to Bedivere".)