Page 81 - Gullivers

12 colour plates was issued in 1937. The illustrations are dated 1909. The publishers supply a note to the 1937 edition stating that ‘the designs ... were subsequently worked over, revised and coloured by
the artist, and some new designs added’. Rackham’s characteristic style is to the fore in the scenes in Brobdingnag; the small man in a giant world gives him most scope for the air of concealed threat
that permeates much of his best work. We see Gulliver ‘struck with fear’ at the sight of the Brobdingnagian reapers; the palette is typically dark, browns and blacks, heightening the air of menace, and as in so many of Rackham’s illustrations, suggesting much more than is obvious at first glance; his battle with giant wasps is dramatic
and fearsome too; in these scenes he is shown in ‘normal’ size, vulnerable in a giant world, while his struggle with the frog is shown from the perspective of
the Brobdingnagian ladies, emphasising
his smallness. Rackham’s ability to toggle between looming threat and lightness is shown when the frog, no longer menacing, acts as an aside in playful vignettes.
The first quarter of the twentieth century saw a number of the foremost illustrators of the time responding to the
lure of illustrating Gulliver’s Travels. Louis John Rhead was one of these. Rhead was born in England, trained as an artist in South Kensington and Paris, but did most of his illustrative work in America where he established himself as a graphic designer and illustrator of posters as well as
books. Rhead provided 100 black and white drawings for this edition, but
it is his frontispiece of Gulliver emerging like a colossus from the sea that has become one of the enduring images of the tale. He is known as a realistic illustrator, but in Gulliver’s Travels he allows himself some flights of fancy – or fantasy. His drawings are finely detailed, some more amusing and reflecting the spirit
of the narrative than others, such as the scene where he shows the sliced-open heads of Balnabarbi politicians.
Some of these artists were not specialists in illustrating books for a young audience, but a more discernible focus on child readers is noticeable at this period. American illustrator Milo Winter is clearly conscious that in his depictions of the travels he is aiming at children; the sense of menace evident in earlier editions, even in those intended for younger readers,
is absent. This, also, of course, reflects a
IV. Picturing Gulliver
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