"Crusoe in his Bower" for Daniel Defoe's "Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" (1863-64) (original) (raw)

Crusoe in his Bower

Justyne, Leitch, Macquoid, Morgan, Pasquier, & Thomas

Engravers: Butterworth and Heath

1863-64

Wood-engraving

22 cm high by 14 cm wide.

Cassell's Robinson Crusoe, page 69.

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Scanned image and text byPhilip V. Allingham.

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Victorian Web motto

Passage Realised

This thought ran long in my head, and I was exceeding fond of it for some time, the pleasantness of the place tempting me; but when I came to a nearer view of it, I considered that I was now by the seaside, where it was at least possible that something might happen to my advantage, and, by the same ill fate that brought me hither might bring some other unhappy wretches to the same place; and though it was scarce probable that any such thing should ever happen, yet to enclose myself among the hills and woods in the centre of the island was to anticipate my bondage, and to render such an affair not only improbable, but impossible; and that therefore I ought not by any means to remove. However, I was so enamoured of this place, that I spent much of my time there for the whole of the remaining part of the month of July; and though upon second thoughts, I resolved not to remove, yet I built me a little kind of a bower, and surrounded it at a distance with a strong fence, being a double hedge, as high as I could reach, well staked and filled between with brushwood; and here I lay very secure, sometimes two or three nights together; always going over it with a ladder; so that I fancied now I had my country house and my sea-coast house; and this work took me up to the beginning of August.

I had but newly finished my fence, and began to enjoy my labour, when the rains came on, and made me stick close to my first habitation; for though I had made me a tent like the other, with a piece of a sail, and spread it very well, yet I had not the shelter of a hill to keep me from storms, nor a cave behind me to retreat into when the rains were extraordinary. [Chapter VII, "Agricultural Experience," page 68]

Commentary

The particular moment realised reinforces Crusoe's status for much of the first half of the story as the castaway on a desert island south of Trinidad off the mouth of the Orinoco River. In this full-page illustration, the colonist seems to be somewhat despondent as he scans the Romantic vista for any sign of human existence, even as he shelters behind a palisade designed to protect him from such unwanted visitors as the cannibals, about whom at this point he knows nothing. The picture's border reminds readers that Crusoe has cultivated wild grapes, which he transforms into raisins. Here, having surmounted the problems caused by disease and climate, the normally active Crusoe seems to be battling the depression born of social isolation.

This is one of the few illustrations in the book prominently signed: "GHT" (lower right) indicates that this psychological study is the work of celebrated painterGeorge Housman Thomas (1824-68),English woodblock engraver, illustrator, and Victorian era painter. Although he specialised in illustrating current affairs such as the Crimean War, Thomas provided illustrations for a number of popular novels, including Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853), Trollope's Last Chronicle of Barset (1867), and Thomas More's oriental romance Lalla Rookh (1868). His interests in the tropics and in biography combine brilliantly in The Life and Adventures of Dr. Livingston: in the interior of South Africa ... Illustrated with portrait, map, and sixty engravings, etc. (1868).

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 11 March 2018