Embossed, gilt-stamped cover for "Robinson Crusoe on the Island" (London: Cassell, 1863-64) (original) (raw)

Embossed Cover

Thomas Macquoid, designer

Engravers: Butterworth and Heath

1864

Embossed leather

26.8 cm high by 18.6 cm wide.

Cassell's Robinson Crusoe.

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Scanned image and text byPhilip V. Allingham.

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Commentary

The London publishers Cassell, Petter, and Galpin have provided a relatively contemporary design for the early eighteenth-century novel. The 1863-64 Cassell edition had two different covers, one a plain black cloth with embossed leather spine, and the other pictured here, which appears courtesy of the Special Collections division of the McPherson Library at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. This second, all-leather version is the more interesting of the two, and was probably designed by Macquoid, who in all likelihood design the two text borders and the numerous ornamental frames for the illustrations.

The buff or tan colour of the volume is suitable for a log or journal, which at one remove is what Robinson Crusoe is. The abstract plant motifs (upper left and lower right on the cover, and enclosing the title) and again in gilt surrounding the title. Whereas the mid-Victorian edition has taken full advantage of the realistic possibilities of the new style of composite wood-block engraving synonymous with the New Men of the Sixties, the cover presents the text in stylized symbols. For example, the motif of a European hatchet (which is both a weapon and an implement in the story) tied to a native spear (upper right) implies the conflict not merely between aboriginal peoples such as the cannibals who periodically visit Crusoe's island and eventually attempt to invase it, but also the contradictory impulses to construct and destroy. The anchor and cable (lower left) underscore the continuing importance of the sea and ships in Crusoe's adventures, and the gold print on the tan background may imply the wealth that Crusoe derives from his commercial activities in the second half of the story.

The designer responsible in all likelihood for the cover and the borders, Thomas Macquoid, seems to have specialised in illustrations depicting the lush vegetation of Crusoe's island, and of foreign settings such as Madagascar — in particular, Macquoid seems to have enjoyed drawing palm trees andbanana leaves:

Complicating the issue of Macquoid's contributions to the 1863-64 project even further, Macquoid may well have designed many of the ornamental frames of other illustrators' plates since "TM" often appears within the borders.

Bibliography

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Of York, Mariner. As Related by himself. With upwards of One Hundred Illustrations. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863-64.

Last modified 9 March 2018