COVE

George Cruikshank (1792-1878) is a Victorian era caricature illustrator most known for illustrating Oliver Twist (1838) and other works by Charles Dickens. As well as illustrating for Dickens, he was also a prolific illustrator of fairy tales and children’s literature.

George Cruikshank is most notably known for illustrating works written by Charles Dickens, and works such as The Bottle (1847) and The Drunkard's Children (1848), but he also illustrated versions of children's fairy tales. These fairy tales were illustrated as a part of the Fairy Library, and four works are known. These works are "Hop-O'-My-Thumb" (1853), "Jack and the Bean-Stalk" (1854), "Cinderella and The Glass Slipper" (1854), and "Puss in Boots" (1864). Each classic fairy tale is shaped to have a bit of a Victorian era spin on it, such as making the morals of the characters more important. In the Victorian era, society was very concerned with morals and ethics, and since the fairy tales were designed to teach lessons to the children who were reading them, Victorian authors and illustrators introduced different concepts of morals into these classic fairy tales for children.

Drawing of George Cruikshank, artist unknown, n.d., from Cruikshankart.com. This first image depicts illustrator George Cruikshank and is a drawing on paper

George Cruikshank, "Oliver  Asking For More," From Oliver Twist (1838), by Charles Dickens, 1838, The Victorian Web. This is the first illustration in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and one of George Cruikshank’s most well-known illustrations. Cruikshank illustrated stories such as Oliver Twist before gaining popularity and going on to illustrate fairy tales and other stories for children. Image from “The Works of George Cruikshank, 1792-1878” on The Victorian Web.

 “Tom Puss commands the Reapers to tell the King that all the fields belong to the Most Noble, the Marquis of Carabas,” Illustration six in “Puss in Boots (1864),” page 23 This is the sixth illustration in “Puss in Boots” seen on page twenty-three in the fairy tale. This image depicts Tom Puss traveling down the roads to have a talk with the King, and the  townspeople are showing up to watch him pass down the road.

Image from “The Cruikshank Fairy-book :four famous stories: I. Puss in boots. II. Jack and the bean-stalk. III. Hop-o-my-thumb. IV. Cinderella / with forty illustrations by George Cruikshank”

“The Prince, picking up Cinderella's Glass Slipper” Illustration number six in "Cinderella and The Glass Slipper (1854)” This image, being the sixth image seen in this fairy tale, is when we see the Prince finding Cinderella’s glass slipper after she begins her hasty departure from the ball where she met her prince. Both Cinderella and the Prince are visible in this illustration, and while Cinderella can see the Prince pick up her slipper over her shoulder, the Prince does not see Cinderella, and does not know who’s lost slipper he has found.

Image from “The Works of George Cruikshank, 1792-1878” on The Victorian Web, scanned by  Philip V. Allingham.

Reference Links

https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/cruikshank/works.html

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t2q52tx87&seq=39