23 December 2009
Snowy Scary Un-Festive Picture - A Little Christmas Dream by George du Maurier
Carroll once considered getting George du Maurier to illustrate something or other - forgotten what it was now. Nothing ever came of it but I wish it had. Du Maurier was well known for his pics of etiquette-imprisoned society folk making fools of themselves, which probably appealed to Carroll. Carroll may also have appreciated du Maurier's less well known flair for the weird and sinister. Here is a very un-festive Christmas scene by du Maurier, which I discovered in an ancient copy of PUNCH.
Sorry it's a rather crummy photo - the pic is framed and mounted, and the white blob is my flash. But you get the general idea. Now, back to your robins and Santas. Happy Christmas!
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"Like on who, on a lonely road
Doth walk in fear and dread
And having once turned round, walks on
And turns no more his head:
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread."
- Happy Samuel Taylor Coleridge