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Robinson Crusoe's Cave (title-page vignette)
Sir John Gilbert, R. A.
1867?
Steel-engraving
11 cm high x 6.6 cm, vignetted
Second illustration for Daniel Defoe's Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, facing the frontispiece.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
The entrance into this place I made to be, not by a door, but by a short ladder to go over the top; which ladder, when I was in, I lifted over after me; and so I was completely fenced in and fortified, as I thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure in the night, which otherwise I could not have done; though, as it appeared afterwards, there was no need of all this caution from the enemies that I apprehended danger from.
Into this fence or fortress, with infinite labour, I carried all my riches, all my provisions, ammunition, and stores, of which you have the account above; and I made a large tent, which to preserve me from the rains that in one part of the year are very violent there, I made double— one smaller tent within, and one larger tent above it; and covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulin, which I had saved among the sails.
And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I had brought on shore, but in a hammock, which was indeed a very good one, and belonged to the mate of the ship.
Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and everything that would spoil by the wet; and having thus enclosed all my goods, I made up the entrance, which till now I had left open, and so passed and repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.
When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock, and bringing all the earth and stones that I dug down out through my tent, I laid them up within my fence, in the nature of a terrace, so that it raised the ground within about a foot and a half; and thus I made me a cave, just behind my tent, which served me like a cellar to my house.
Note, during all this time I worked to make this room or cave spacious enough to accommodate me as a warehouse or magazine, a kitchen, a dining-room, and a cellar; as for my lodging, I kept to the tent; except that sometimes, in the wet season of the year, it rained so hard that I could not keep myself dry, which caused me afterwards to cover all my place within my pale with long poles, in the form of rafters, leaning against the rock, and load them with flags and large leaves of trees, like a thatch. [Chapter IV, "First Weeks on the Island"]
The actual passage in which Defoe describes the homespun furnishings does not occur in the accompanying text, which the publishers have somewhat abridged, shortening considerably the portion of the story that falls between Crusoe's arrival on the island and the flight of Friday from the cannibals. Consequently, the passage which most closely approximates the title-page vignette is the following: “Note, during all this time I worked to make this room, or cave, spacious enough to accommodate me as a warehouse, or magazine, a kitchen, a dining-room, and a cellar” (p. 68).
The plate constitutes something of a genre painting in black-and-white as Gilbert has absented Crusoe himself, leaving with the dog, parrot, and objects associated with the cave’s resident: the cask of spirits, the sabre, the musket, and the goatskin hat. Curiously, among the principal illustrators of the novel, neither Stothard nor Phiz has much interest in Crusoe's animal companions, whereas Cruikshank has a delightful rendition of Crusoe's quiet but serviceable living-quarters as he teaches Poll to speak.
Some of the items in this picture may have come from Crusoe's salvaging another wreck entirely: "I found, besides these chests, a little cask full of liquor, of about twenty gallons, which I got into my boat with much difficulty" (Chapter XIII, "The Wreck of a Spanish Ship").
Left: Thomas Stothard's resourceful Crusoe has settled in to island life, Crusoe at work in his cave (1790). Centre: George Cruikshank's charming 1831 realisation of Crusoe and the quiet interior of his cave, Crusoe and Poll the Parrot in dialogue (Chapter IX, "A Boat"). Right: The children's book illustrator emphasizes Crusoe's living in harmony with his many animal companions in Robinson Crusoe reading the Bible (1818). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
De Foe, Daniel. The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Written by Himself. Illustrated by Gilbert, Cruikshank, and Brown. London: Darton and Hodge, 1867?].
Last modified 16 February 2018
