[“The two men drew the corpse gently out of its coffin”] — illustration for G. W. M. Reynolds’s “The Mysteries of London” by G. Stiff

[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Illustration —> G. Stiff —> Next]

The two men drew the corpse gently out of its coffin

G. Stiff

c. 1843

Wood engraving

Source: The Hathi Trust version of G. W. M. Reynolds’s The Mysteries of London 1.329

The illustration depicts a passage in Chapter 108.

Click on image to enlarge it and see passage illustrated below,

He and his companions proceeded to lift the corpse out of the coffin.

“The greatest possible quantity of corpses into the smallest space”

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit Project Gutenberg and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — George P. Landow]

Passage illustrated

The Resurrection Man worked for about ten minutes with a skill and an effect that would have astonished even Jones the grave-digger himself, had he been there to see. He then resigned the spade to the Buffer, who took his turn with equal ardour and ability.

When his ten minutes elapsed, the resurrectionists regaled themselves each with a dram from Tidkins' flask; and this individual then applied himself once more to the work in hand. When he was wearied, the Buffer relieved him; and thus did they fairly divide the toil until the excavation of the ground was completed. This portion of the task was finished in about forty minutes. An oblique channel, about ten feet long, and three feet square at the mouth, and decreasing only in length, as it verged towards the head of the coffin at the bottom, was now formed. . . .

The Resurrection Man next handed up the tools to his companion, who threw him down a strong cord.

The end of this rope was then fastened under the armpits of the corpse as it lay in its coffin. . . . The two men then took the rope between them, and drew the corpse gently out of its coffin—up the slope of the channel—and landed it safely on the ground at a little distance from the mouth of the excavation.

The moon fell upon the pale features of the dead—those features which were still as unchanged, save in colour, as if they had never come in contact with a shroud—nor belonged to a body that had been swathed in a winding-sheet! The contrast formed by the white figure and the black soil on which it was stretched, would have struck terror to the heart of any one save a resurrection man. — Chapter 108, “The Image, the Picture, and the Statue” [1.330]

Bibliography

Reynolds, George W. M. The Mysteries of London. vol 1. London: George Vickers, 1846. Hathi Trust Digital Library. Web. 6 October 2016.

Last modified 6 October 2016