"I made me a suit of clothes." — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

I made me a suit of clothes

Wal Paget (1863-1935)

full-page lithograph

8.5 cm high by 7.6 cm wide, vignetted.

1891

Robinson Crusoe, embedded on page 97.

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 (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustration: Crusoe makes his "Island" Suit

Upon these views I began to consider about putting the few rags I had, which I calledclothes, into some order; I had worn out all the waistcoats I had, and my business wasnow to try if I could not make jackets out of the great watch-coats which I had by me,and with such other materials as I had; so I set to work, tailoring, or rather, indeed,botching, for I made most piteous work of it. However, I made shift to make two or threenew waistcoats, which I hoped would serve me a great while: as for breeches or drawers, Imade but a very sorry shift indeed till afterwards.

I have mentioned that I saved the skins of all the creatures that I killed, I mean four-footed ones, and I had them hung up, stretched out with sticks in the sun, by which means some of them were so dry and hard that they were fit for little, but others were very useful. The first thing I made of these was a great cap for my head, with the hair on the outside, to shoot off the rain; and this I performed so well, that after I made me a suit of clothes wholly of these skins — that is to say, a waistcoat, and breeches open at the knees, and both loose, for they were rather wanting to keep me cool than to keep me warm. I must not omit to acknowledge that they were wretchedly made; for if I was a bad carpenter, I was a worse tailor. However, they were such as I made very good shift with, and when I was out, if it happened to rain, the hair of my waistcoat and cap being outermost, I was kept very dry. [Chapter IX, "A Boat," page 96 ]

Commentary

Whereas textual Crusoe feels that he is not succeeding as a tailor and that his haberdashery is not even mediocre, the pictorial Crusoe exudes self-confidence as he skilfully plies his needle — much to the fascination of his dog. The illustrator suggests that Crusoe has already mastered the art of making footwear from animal hides.Paget has undoubtedly modelled his composition on Crusoe Making a Coat in the 1863-64 Cassell edition. However, significant by his absence from the 1891 plate is Crusoe's dog; moreover, Paget has his tailor seated comfortably on a home-made bench rather than on the ground. However, perhaps i acknowledgement of his source, Paget has given Crusoe exactly the same shoes seen in the 1863-64 woodblock engraving.

My clothes, too, began to decay; as to linen, I had had none a good while, except some chequered shirts which I found in the chests of the other seamen, and which I carefully preserved . . . .

The picture, therefore, marks the point at which Crusoe begins to adapt his body to the island environment while maintaining his European sense of propriety. From this point onward, Paget's Crusoe blends with the iconic images of previous illustrators as the castaway in goatskins who, unlike Robert Louis Stevenson's hirsute demented ex-sailor Ben Gunn in Treasure Island (serialised in Our Young Folks from October 1881 through January 1882), maintains his sanity even in his utter isolation from the rest of humanity.

Related Material

The Parallel Illustration in the 1863-64 Cassell Edition

Above: The earlier Cassell edition's highly realistic representation of Crusoe as his own tailor, Crusoe Making a Coat.

Reference

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Of York, Mariner. As Related by Himself. With upwards of One Hundred and Twenty Original Illustrations by Walter Paget. London, Paris, and Melbourne: Cassell, 1891.

Last modified 29 April 2018