The University of Delaware Library announces "Robin Hood: Selected Resources," an exhibition which will be on view in the Information Room of the Morris Library through Friday, December 16, 2005. The exhibition was planned in conjunction with the "Images of Robin Hood," the Fifth Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Robin Hood Studies, which is sponsored by the English Department on Thursday, September 29, 2005, through Sunday, October 2, 2005. The curator of "Robin Hood: Selected Resources" is Iris Snyder, Associate Librarian in the Special Collections Department.

    From his earliest mention in late medieval writings, Robin Hood has enjoyed almost mythic status. His career has been chronicled in May Day games, dramatic works, ballads, songs, and more recently in operas and films. Stories of Robin Hood have been translated into a wide variety of languages, including Romance, Germanic, and Scandinavian languages. Scholars do not always agree whether there was a historical Robin Hood who inspired the legendary tales, but some of the most familiar aspects of his life-Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, Robin's aristocratic background, his association with Richard the Lion Heart and Prince John, and even his redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor-appear to be later additions to the early tales.

    The books on exhibition attest to the continued popularity of Robin Hood and to the variety of editions, chapbooks, and writings about his career. The noted Brandywine illustrators, N. C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle, have contributed to the Robin Hood corpus through the written word and celebrated illustrations. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Errol Flynn, Mel Brooks, and Kevin Costner have all lent their dramatic talents to developing the heroic and comic possibilities of the "prince of thieves." A sampling of renowned scholars of the Robin Hood legend and of earlier literature also appears in these cases.