A flyback converter incorporating an energy recovery circuit is proposed to generate high voltage pulses for driving carbon nanotube field emission lamp (CNT-FEL). The employed energy recovery circuit will not only eliminate the arcing phenomenon caused by traditional DC driving, but also recover the excess energy to DC bus so as to improve the system efficiency. In this paper, we construct an equivalent model of the CNT-FEL to exhibit its electric characteristics. Moreover, the mathematical models of each operation mode are also derived. And then a complete design considerations and mathematical model are detailed. All the experimental results agree with the computer simulations to verify the theoretical predictions.