"Friday and his Father" [Plate 9] — Illustrated Children's Edition of "Robinson Crusoe" (1818)

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Friday and his Father

1818

Hand-tinted copper-engraving

8.1 cm high by 5.2 cm wide, framed

Pages: ii, 195 p., [12] leaves of illustrations

Source: Illustration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, facing page 133 [Plate 9].

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Illustrations of children’s editions

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: The Reunion

I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes which they had bound him with, and would have helped him up; but he could not stand or speak, but groaned most piteously, believing, it seems, still, that he was only unbound in order to be killed. When Friday came to him I bade him speak to him, and tell him of his deliverance; and pulling out my bottle, made him give the poor wretch a dram, which, with the news of his being delivered, revived him, and he sat up in the boat. But when Friday came to hear him speak, and look in his face, it would have moved any one to tears to have seen how Friday kissed him, embraced him, hugged him, cried, laughed, hallooed, jumped about, danced, sang; then cried again, wrung his hands, beat his own face and head; and then sang and jumped about again like a distracted creature. It was a good while before I could make him speak to me or tell me what was the matter; but when he came a little to himself he told me that it was his father.

It is not easy for me to express how it moved me to see what ecstasy and filial affection had worked in this poor savage at the sight of his father, and of his being delivered from death; nor indeed can I describe half the extravagances of his affection after this: for he went into the boat and out of the boat a great many times: when he went in to him he would sit down by him, open his breast, and hold his father's head close to his bosom for many minutes together, to nourish it; then he took his arms and ankles, which were numbed and stiff with the binding, and chafed and rubbed them with his hands; and I, perceiving what the case was, gave him some rum out of my bottle to rub them with, which did them a great deal of good. [Chapter XVI, "The Rescue of Prisoners from Cannibals"]

Facing Page of Text

. . .but having come to himself a little, he informed him that the savage was his father.

Far from checking transports that had their source in such honourable feelings, Crusoe took a delight in witnessing them. Friday jumped into the boat, then jumped out again, excited by sentiments which prevented him from thinking on what he did. The poor old man stretched forth his arms towards his son, and was so overcome with emotion, that he could not utter a single word; he wept for joy, and from time to time expressed his gratitude to Robinson Crusoe, of whose kindness and humanity Friday informed him in the language of his country.

This affecting scene put an end to the pursuit of the savages, and as the day was far from advanced, they thought of quitting the scene of action. The strength which the Spaniard had shewn in pursuing the fugitives proceeded cu. . . . [page 145]

Commentary

Robinson Crusoe, bearded and in his "island dress," has now been on the island by himself eighteen years. In this hand-tinted engraving he and Friday have just rescued two further victims whom the cannibals have brought to the island: the Spaniard, and an elderly native who turns out to be Friday's father. Although Friday and his parent should logically be depicted as Carib Indians, the anonymous illustrator has given them Negroid hair and skin colour. Friday dances as he recognizes his father sitting inn the dugout canoe, a scene not entirely consistent with the original text. However, both the anonymous children's author and Defoe in this incident underscore the warmth of the relationship between Friday and his father, contrasting Crusoe's own awkward relationship with the parents against whom he rebelled by going to sea rather than into business in York.

Related Scenes from Stothard (1790), Cruikshank (1831), and Gilbert (1860s)

Left: Stothard's 1790 realisation of the consequence of the rescue scene, an illustration of which Phiz was probably aware, Robinson Crusoe and Friday making a tent to lodge Friday's father and the Spaniard (copper-plate engraving, [Chapter XVI). Right: Sir John Gilbert's contemporary illustration focussing just on Crusoe and the captive, Robinson Crusoe rescues the Spaniard (1860s).

Above: Cruikshank's delightful vignette of Friday's overjoyed response to seeing his father again after some time away in Europe, Friday andHis Father (1831). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Reference

Defoe, Daniel. The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. A new and improved edition, interspersed with reflections, religious and moral. Adorned with engravings. London: J. Harris, 1818.

Last modified 16 February 2018