Thomas Stothard's "Robinson Crusoe discovers the print of a man's foot" for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe"

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Robinson Crusoe discovers the print of a man's foot.

Artist: Thomas Stothard

Engraver: C. Heath

1782, 1790

Copper-engraving

11 cm high by 8.3 cm wide

Source: Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, facing page 104.

[Click on image to enlarge it and mouse over text for links.]

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.]

Stothard initially provided fifteen plates in Harrison's 1782 edition, then a more comprehensive set for John Stockdale's 1790 edition. Stothard added five plates to the second group of illustrations for this edition.

Passage Illustrated: The Discovery of a Footprint

But now I come to a new scene of my life.

It happened one day about noon, going towards my boat, I was exceedingly surprised with the print of a man’s naked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen on the sand. I stood like one thunderstruck, or as if I had seen an apparition. I listened, I looked round me, but I could hear nothing, nor see anything; I went up to a rising ground to look farther; I went up the shore and down the shore, but it was all one; I could see no other impression but that one. I went to it again to see if there were any more, and to observe if it might not be my fancy; but there was no room for that, for there was exactly the print of a foot — toes, heel, and every part of a foot. How it came thither I knew not, nor could I in the least imagine; but after innumerable fluttering thoughts, like a man perfectly confused and out of myself, I came home to my fortification, not feeling, as we say, the ground I went on, but terrified to the last degree, looking behind me at every two or three steps, mistaking every bush and tree, and fancying every stump at a distance to be a man. Nor is it possible to describe how many various shapes my affrighted imagination represented things to me in, how many wild ideas were found every moment in my fancy, and what strange, unaccountable whimsies came into my thoughts by the way. [Chapter XI, "Finds the print of a man's foot on the sand," pp. 104-105]

Related Material

Parallel Scenes by Cruikshank (1831), the 1818 Children's Book, Gilbert (1867?), and the Cassell Edition (1863-64)

Left: Cruikshank's realisation of this highly charged moment, Friday's Footprint — Crusoe discovers a human footprint on the beach (wood-engraving). Right: The 1863-63 Cassell's Illustrated Edition of the earth-shaking discovery, Crusoe see a Foot-print on the Sand. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Left: The 1818 children's book's depiction of Crusoe's stunning discovery, Robinson Crusoe's terror at the print of the human foot. Right: Gilbert's Crusoe is not startled so much as shocked and surprised as he puts his hand to his brow in this full-page composite woodblock engraving, Robinson Crusoe discovers a Footprint< (1860s): Chapter XI, "Finds the print of a man's foot on the sand." [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Bibliography

Defoe, Daniel. The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. A new and improved edition, interspersed with reflections, religious and moral. Adorned with engravings. London: J. Harris, 1818.

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Written by Himself. Illustrated by Thomas Stothard; engraving by C. Heath. London: Bliss, Sands, and Foster, 1820.

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. (1831). Major's Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1890.

Last modified 22 February 2018