Page 75 - Gullivers

the text. It is remarkable too that many artists have chosen to depict the same scenes, and this will be discussed in more detail further on in this essay. Undoubtedly, these are the great set-pieces of the book, and in particular in the earlier voyages, and it is interesting to speculate to what extent our inner picture of Gulliver, for example pinned to the ground by his hair as well as with ropes, has been reinforced by the constant redepiction of a broadly similar image.
While many of the illustrated versions of Gulliver’s Travels have been prepared
for a juvenile audience, there are quite
a few that are unlikely to appeal to a particularly young audience, and there
are a few that are very adult indeed, such as James Millar’s highly stylised Grecian figures. Seemingly etched in white on a black background, a touch of Beardsley here intensifying a self-conscious note of decadence about the mostly nude figures, we see Gulliver reclining languorously in Lilliput, and the Houyhnhnms with their humanised heads are satyrs. Some of these editions are produced for a limited edition or fine art market, like the Cresset Press edition (1930) illustrated by Rex Whistler in pen and ink and reproduced
by photogravure, very consciously intending to give an ‘authentic’ feel for
the period. An ornate map announces ‘The Kingdoms of Lilliput and Blefuscu discovered by Mr Lemuel Gulliver in 1699’, a number of single-page pictures
of Gulliver are framed memento-style
by an intricate interworking of objects relevant to the scene as well as a skull, always giving a sense of historical distance to the story, and when we look closely,
we realise that sometimes Whistler is nudging us towards how we might regard Gulliver in a particular situation: we note
a mermaid and merman looking wryly at each other as they frame sailors heading towards Gulliver in his box on the waves, and a similar pair of mer people along with other classical figures provide unspoken comments on others of his exploits.
The two-volume Golden Cockerel edition illustrated by David Jones’s woodcuts, is equally consciously arty with its seemingly simple maps, gently coloured and beautifully lettered, and enlivened
by ships, mermaids and other figures.
The influence of Eric Gill, with whom Jones was closely associated, is evident in these beautifully made volumes. The 1929 Limited Editions Club volume illustrated
IV. Picturing Gulliver
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