Water Babies

J. Noel Paton

1863

Wood engraving by an unknown engraver

3¾ inches diameter

Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies, facing 145

Paton’s second design for Kingsley’s novel is another visualization of the water-babies’ strange domain, combining the grotesque forms of sea-life with the babies’ idealized figures. It also recalls the artist’s fairy paintings.

Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke. [Click on image to enlarge it, and mouse over the text for links.]

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