The Interior of Hades
W.M. Thackeray
1850
Hand coloured wood engraving, probably by William Linton
5½ x 4 inches
Pictorial frontispiece for Thackeray’s The Kickleburys on the Rhine.
The title gives this scene the portentousness of Dante, but the reality is banal. Instead of tormented souls, we have a collection of avaricious people contemplating the next move in a seedy gambling-house. Presented as the book’s frontispiece, the illustration establishes the text’s mock-heroic tone.
Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.