Publisher's Synopsis
Born into a family that is already engaged in a blood feud with another noble house, Otto is sent to live with monks, but is reclaimed at age 12 by his militant, but loving father. The gentle-natured boy is kidnapped and mutilated by the rival family. Pauline, his captors daughter helps him escape. His father allows him to return to the monks who place him under the emperor's protection. His silver hand is a replacement for the one Otto lost while in captivity, but his injury does not prevent him from maturing wisely and marrying Pauline. Howard Pyle was an American illustrator and writer, primarily of books for young audiences. In 1894 he began teaching illustration at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry, and after 1900 founded his own school of art and illustration called the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art. He wrote an original work, Otto of the Silver Hand, in 1888 and also illustrated historical and adventure stories for periodicals such as Harper's Weekly and St. Nicholas Magazine. Pyle travelled to Florence, Italy to study mural painting in 1910, and died there in 1911 of sudden kidney infection.
