Wood engraving, engraved by the Dalziels. 4¼ x 3½ inches. Thomas Dalziel’s ‘The Hill of Difficulty’ shows Bunyan’s Christian toiling up the metaphorical ascent of life’s challenges in The Pilgrim’s Progress, p. 37.
Dalziel endows the task with an intense physicality, providing a perfect counterpoint to the lines, ‘The difficulty will not offend,’ as the character holds on to weeds and pushes forward. The diagonal formed by the staff stresses the steep incline and the mountainous height is suggested by the blankness of the right background, only populated by a high-flying bird.
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Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke. 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. [Click on the image to enlarge it].
Bibliography
Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim’s Progress. London: Ward & Lock [1865].
Created 30 August 2026