Fantastic scene, in watercolour and pen and ink, by Charles Doyle. Reproduced in Michael Baker’s The Doyle Diary, London: Paddington Press, 1978, plate 45. The inscription reads: ‘You see how it’s quite a mistake to apply the term “waspish” to what’s uncivil, this creature is polite,’ and shows a wasp apparently introducing a goblin to a wingless fairy. This is a page from Doyle’s sketchbook during his time in an asylum, and epitomizes his fascination with word-play combined with fairy imagery.
Text and scan 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.]
Created 15 November 2023