"He was indeed a pitiable object" by Harry Furniss — illustration for Lewis Carroll’s “Sylvie and Bruno Concluded”

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He was indeed a pitiable object

Harry Furniss

Swain, engraver

1893

Illustration for Lewis Carroll’s Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, 382

Source: Hathi Digital Library Trust version of a copy in the Pennsylvania State University Library.

[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Ray Dyer.

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Passage Illustrated

He was indeed a pitiable object: the rags, that hung about him, were all splashed with mud: his white hair and his long beard were tossed about in wild disorder. Yet he walked upright, with a stately tread, as if used to command: and strangest sight of all Sylvie and Bruno came with him, clinging to his hands, and gazing at him with looks of silent love.

Commentary

The entire incident of “The Beggar’s Return” and eponymous illustration is omitted in the 1904 abridged The Story of Sylvie and Bruno, which continued to appear in editions through 1910, 1916, 1922 etc. This is of course a fantasy design by Furniss, who was sufficiently talented to pass freely between realism and fantasy, politics and children’s literature. None of Furniss’s illustrations in a realistic style appear in The Story of Sylvie and Bruno, 1904 to 1922 etc., which selected a pure Fantasy collection from Lewis Carroll’s long saga. — Ray Dyer

Bibliography

Carroll, Lewis. The Story of Sylvie and Bruno. London: Macmillan & Co., 1922. Hathi Digital Library Trust version of a copy in the University of North Carolina Library. Web. 20 September 2016.

Created 29 December 2014

Last modified 1 February 2020