Description:

Samuel Croxall
Surrey, England, 1722 (or a later edition)
Engraving of "The Wolf and the Lamb" from Croxall's edition of Aesop's Fables; Engraving of Giant Trees
Copper engraving on paper
This small early modern engraving illustrates the fable of ‘The Wolf and the Lamb.' This ancient story is one of hundreds of stories composed by Aesop (620-560 BCE) of Greece; and his stories represent perhaps the world's best known collection of morality tales. His characters were often animals outside in nature--like in this example. This story is categorised as number 155 (out of 725) on the Perry Index.

This unsigned and undated copper engraving was part of a famous edition of Aesop's Fables translated and first published in England in 1722 by Samuel Croxall (c. 1688-1752). His book was so popular that it was regularly reprinted and went through at least 16 editions over the course of the 18th c. This engraving that was cut from that book could have been placed in an album by some English parents who used to talk about, comment on, and interpret Aesop's fables and human morality with their children, possibly as a bedtime teaching and learning tool.

This particular story goes like this: a mature and hungry wolf comes upon a young lamb alone in a forest. Both are drinking water from a stream. Looking for an excuse to justify the killing, the wolf (who was upstream) begins to blame the lamb for various things (including muddying the stream)—none of which could possibly be true. The wolf declares that some other lamb, possibly the lamb's mother or brother must have committed the offences. Although he cannot blame the lamb for anything, the wolf devours the lamb. So, the story is about injustice and tyranny and about how a victim can be falsely accused and killed despite complete innocence; or, a tyrant can always come up with excuses for his actions, and tyrants do not care to listen to the innocent. Although always popular, the fable became particularly relevant in 19th c. colonial-era cartoons, likening the wolf to European powers and the lamb to its colonies around the world.

A second piece in this lot is another fine small print (2 1/2" x 4"). It was made by Richardson Rome (Minnesota, 1902-1981) and is called "Giant Redwoods" that evokes the sense of an ancient and deep dark forest, common in so many fables.

  • Dimensions: 3" x 2 1/2"
  • Medium: Copper engraving on paper

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November 3, 2023 10:00 AM CDT
St. Louis, MO, US

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