The Patissier — headpiece for "The Patissier. Versailles" in Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, first published in 1768. C. P. Nicholls' Wood-engraving, 6.7 cm high by 9.3 cm wide, top half of p. 111. In the 1841 edition, the illustrators employ an image of a bakery counter to prepare readers for (indeed, to enforce belief in) the improbable scene on the succeeding page of an officer in full uniform wearing a linen apron and selling pastries. In contrast, although he offers no such elaborate headpiece, Tony Johannot in the 1857 situates the vendor and his wares in a narrative context, with La Fleur and the coachman in the background, and Yorick studying both the old soldier and his wares. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Complemented
La Fleur returned a little pale; and told me it was a Chevalier de St. Louis selling pâtés. — It is impossible, La Fleur, said I. — La Fleur could no more account for the phenomenon than myself; but persisted in his story: he had seen the croix set in gold, with its red riband, he said, tied to his buttonhole — and had looked into the basket and seen the pâtés which the Chevalier was selling; so could not be mistaken in that. ["Le Patissier. Versailles," pp. 112]
Relevant illustrations from the 1841 and 1857 editions
Left: Johannot's engraving of the old soldier on the sidewalk, which includes such contextual elements as village buildings and Yorick's carriage, The poor Chevalier of St. Louis (1857). Right: Jacque and Fussell's characterisation of the decorated veteran reduced to selling pastries (uncaptioned) (1841).
Bibliography
Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Illustrated with one hundred engravings on wood, by Bastin and G. Nichols, from original designs by Jacque and Fussell. London: Joseph Thomas, 1841.
Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. With 100 illustrations by Tony Johannot. London: Willoughby, 1857.
Turner, Katherine. "Notes." Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768). Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 2010.
Last modified 13 September 2018