John McLenan's and F.F.O. Freeman's Plates for Bulwer-Lytton's "A Strange Story" (1861, 1862)

I: McLenan's Plates

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton [10 August 1861].
Instalment No. 1, Ch. 1-2: "Close where I stood yawned the open jaws of the fell anaconda," etc. [10 August 1861].
Instalment No. 1, Ch. 1-2: "Suddenly I felt my arm grasped," etc., [10 August 1861].
Instalment No. 4: uncaptioned, 5.5 cm wide by 10.5 cm high, p. 558 top [31 August 1861].
Instalment No. 4, Ch. 9-12: "I had not yet asked you to be my friend. I ask it now."
Instalment No. 5, Ch. 13-15: uncaptioned.
Instalment No. 5, Ch. 13-15: "Lillian was wrapped with unnecessary care," etc.
Instalment No. 7, Ch. 18-21: uncaptioned.
Instalment No. 7, Ch. 18-21: "A silvery whiteness — vaguely shaped as a human form — receding, fading, gone!"
Instalment No. 8, Ch. 22-23: uncaptioned.
Instalment No. 8, Ch. 22-23: "He was resting one hand carelessly on the golden locks of a child," etc.
Instalment No. 11, Ch. 28-29: "I looked, and to my surprise I saw Margrave descending the stately stairs that led from the front door."
Instalment No. 12, Ch. 30: uncaptioned [a monkey climbing a tree].
Instalment No. 12, Ch. 30: "Resting one hand on my shoulder, he pointed with the other toward the threshold of the ball-room."
Instalment No. 13, Ch. 31-32: uncaptioned.
Instalment No. 13, Ch. 31-32: "When I found myself in the street, I turned round and saw Margrave still standing at the open window," etc.
Instalment No. 15, Ch. 36-38: uncaptioned.
Instalment No. 15, Ch. 36-38: "So we walked on moodily, no longer arm in arm, nor hand in hand."
Instalment No. 16, Ch. 39: uncaptioned.
Instalment No. 16, Ch. 39: "When he recovered his head was leaning on Haroun's knee," etc.
Instalment No. 18, Ch. 41-2: uncaptioned [Freed from prison].
Instalment No. 18, Ch. 41-2: "She turned away her face, and resigned her hand to me in silence."
Instalment No. 19, Ch. 43-45: uncaptioned.
Instalment No. 19, Ch. 43-5: "I seated myself on a bench, placed between the clipped yew-trees," etc. p. 796 top centre [14 December 1861], incident illustrated, end of Ch. 44 (page 795).
Instalment No. 20, Ch. 46-50: uncaptioned.
No. 20, Ch. 46-50: "A white doe, that even my presence could not scare away from him, stood patiently by his side," etc., p. 811 bottom left [21 December 1861], incident illustrated, end of Ch. 49 (page 811).

Note: Seventeen Parts that appeared without any illustrations

No. 2-3 [17 and 24 August 1861] is unillustrated: Ch. 3-4.
No. 6 [14 September 1861] is unillustrated: Ch. 16-17, pp. 590-1.
No. 9 and 10 [5 and 12 October 1861], containing Ch. 24 only and Ch. 25-7 respectively, are unillustrated: pp. 638-9 and 654-5.
No. 14 [9 November 1861], containing Ch. 34-35, is unillustrated: pages 711 and 714. N. B. Ch. 33 appears to have misnumbered as Ch. 34.
No. 17 [30 November 1861], Ch. 40, is unillustrated: pages 766-67.
No. 21 [28 December 1861], Ch. 51-54, is unillustrated: pages 826-7.
No. 22-31 [4 January through 8 March 1862] Chapter 55 through 89.

II: The Four Steel Engravings in the Gardner A. Fuller (Pirated) Text of 1862

The following illustrations from Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G. D. A Strange Story are steels by engraver F. O. Freeman based on the drawings of J. N. Hyde. Boston: Gardner A. Fuller, 1862. They are included here for the sake of completeness.

Left to right: 1. Lilian and Allen at the Monk's Well" — 2. Frontispiece; The Phantom in Fenwick's Cell; 3. My Terrible Antagonist Dropped to the Floor as a Dog Drops at the Word of his Master; and 4. You are young: would you live on, you must live as the old.

Related Material

Introduction to Bulwer Lytton's A Strange Story (1862)
Sir John Gilbert's frontispiece for the British 1875 Volume 20 in the Knebworth series (London: George Routledge & Sons): A Strange Story, incident illustrated, end of Ch. LV, p. 159, in Volume Seven of the Collected Works (1875).

Bibliography

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G. D. A Strange Story. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly V, 10 August — 8 March 1862.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G. D. A Strange Story. Illustrated by F. O. Freeman and J. N. Hyde. Boston: Gardner A. Fuller, 1862.

Bulwer Lytton, Edward (Lord Lytton). A Strange Story. Frontispiece by Sir John Gilbert and engraved by the Dalziels from the Knebworth edition (1875). The Works of Edward Bulwer Lytton, Vol. VII. New York: P. F. Collier, n. d. Pp. 7-242.

Created 13 August 2005;

Last updated 1 August 2026