Crusoe and Poll, signed by Paget as "W. P." viii, vignetted: 3.9 cm high by 4.2 cm wide.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Passage Anticipated for the Tailpiece: Crusoe and Poll
However, even though I knew it was the parrot, and that indeed it could be nobody else, it was a good while before I could compose myself. First, I was amazed how the creature got thither; and then, how he should just keep about the place, and nowhere else; but as I was well satisfied it could be nobody but honest Poll, I got over it; and holding out my hand, and calling him by his name, “Poll,” the sociable creature came to me, and sat upon my thumb, as he used to do, and continued talking to me, “Poor Robin Crusoe! and how did I come here? and where had I been?” just as if he had been overjoyed to see me again; and so I carried him home along with me. [Chapter X, "Tames Goats,"p. 102]
Commentary
Since Crusoe is already wearing what he calls "island dress" — that is, the goatskin hat and coat, the picture points to a description well into the castaway narrative, and certainly after "I made me a suit of clothes" (p. 96).
These opening thumbnails and the final tailpiece are unique among Paget's program of 120 illustrations in that they have neither caption nor reference to a page of text. Paget has therefore chosen iconic moments that all readers, including adolescent readers, would recognize from the novel's long culturaltradition: Crusoe in goatskins, holding his parrot; Crusoe a castaway on the shore; and a small ship in full sail.
Related Material
- Daniel Defoe
- Illustrations of Robinson Crusoe by various artists
- Illustrations of children’s editions
- The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe il. H. M. Brock at Project Gutenberg
- The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe at Project Gutenberg
Related Scenes from Stothard (1790), in a Children's Book (1818), from Cruikshank (1831), and from Cassell's (1863-64)
Left: Stothard's 1790 realisation of the interior of the hut in a later episode, Robinson Crusoe and Friday making a tent to lodge Friday's father and the Spaniard (copper-plate engraving, [Chapter XVI, "Rescue of the Prisoners from the Cannibals"). Centre: A realisation of the interior of the hut, Robinson Crusoe reading the Bible (1818). Right: The Cassell's study of Crusoe's instructing Poll the Parrot, Crusoe teaching his Parrot to talk (1863-64). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
George Cruikshank's charming vignette of Crusoe's teaching Poll to speak: Crusoe and Poll the Parrot in dialogue (1831). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Reference
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.
Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Of York, Mariner. As Related by Himself. With upwards of One Hundred and Twenty Original Illustrations by Walter Paget. London, Paris, and Melbourne: Cassell, 1891.
Last modified 24 March 2018