Photograph of Heinrich Hoffmann, 1894, Wikipedia. 

Heinrich Hoffman, "Cruel Frederick," for Struwwelpeter (1848), n.d. edition by Frederick Warne & Co.  “Cruel Frederick” serves as a typical Victorian didactic tale; a young child misbehaves and is then punished for his behavior. In the story, a young, wicked boy named Frederick abuses animals including his pet dog, who bites him in return. Frederick is sent to bed, and his dog gets to eat his supper. The text describes that “he killed the birds, … And threw the kitten down the stairs. . . . And whipped his Mary till she cried.”  Accordingly, the first image in “The Story of Cruel Frederick” depicts three images of Frederick—one with him holding a chair over his head and two birds lying dead at his feet, another of him wielding a whip in front of a crying maiden named Mary, and a third with a cat at the bottom of a set of stairs, crushed by a brick. This picture in vivid color presents Frederick as cruel through his treatment of humans and animals, which, particularly in the Victorian age, indicates his moral failings; Frederick in text and illustrations acts as an unsympathetic character in this cautionary tale.

Book Cover of The English Struwwelpeter, Or Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures for Little Children (1848), 1891 edition by Frankfurt on the Main, 1891, Abe Books.