One of my favorite books is Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan. I have found the examples of the difficulties and temptations encountered in life profound and helpful. Several years ago, when looking for some wall art, I found on Etsy some illustrations that had been cut out of a copy of Pilgrims Progress. The illustrations seemed to capture the intensity and significance of the events of the main characters journey’s. So I tracked down the book that the illustrations had come from and bought a copy. The rest of the illustrations were likewise profound and impactful and since the book is in the public domain (being published in 1890) I wanted to make sure the wonderful illustrations weren’t lost, so I’ve taken photos of the illustrations and am sharing them here.
I do want to preface this gallery with a couple explanations and disclaimers.
On the content of the illustrations: First, Pilgrims Progress is a book describing the Christian life and as a result it does take a moral stand which is reflected in some of the illustrations. Second, John Bunyan named most of his characters based on the character trait they were meant to portray, and the illustrations may then use stereotypical appearances to portray those character traits. I want to clarify that, while I do largely agree with the moral stance of the book, I am not posting these images to create or encourage stereotypes, to start or stoke a debate, or to cast judgement’s on a person’s worth. I am posting them because, as a Christian, a few of these illustrations have been encouraging reminders during difficult times in my own life, and I hope they might encourage others.
Even if you are not a Christian these images are quite amazing works of art, and to some extent are a record of history, and so hopefully in sharing these illustrations they won’t be lost to history.
Obviously in only publishing the illustrations from Pilgrims Progress they have been taken out of their intended context so I would encourage anyone looking at them to consider reading Pilgrims Progress to fully understand the illustrations.
On how the illustrations were copied: After taking pictures of the illustrations with a camera I then cropped and edited the images to correct perspective slightly, and occasionally fix lighting. As a result they may differ slightly from the original artwork.
A note on copyright: The book these illustrations came from was published in 1890 and therefore, to the best of my knowledge, they are no longer under copyright and are in the public domain. The title page and copyright page are also reproduced below to document the copyright of the book and give credit to the original publisher. Also, there may be other editions of Pilgrim’s Progress which also used these illustrations (I know of one other, which was copyrighted in 1897 by a different publisher).
I hope you enjoy and might find some encouragement from these illustrations, I’ve highlighted a couple of my favorite’s with quotes from the book. Scroll down for the full gallery.
Illustrations copied from:
The Pilgrim’s Progress
Altemus’ Edition
By John Bunyan
Illustrations by Frederick Barnard, J.D. Linton, W. Small, Etc.
Philadelphia
Henry Altemus
1890
“…I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a grest burden upon his back. I looked, and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept, and trembled; and, not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, ‘What shall I do?’” (pg. 25)
“The hill, though high, I covet to ascend,
The difficulty will not me offend;
For I perceive the way to life lies here.
Come, pluck up heart, let’s neither faint nor fear;
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.” (pg. 52)
“…his muck-rake doth show his carnal mind. And whereas thou seest him rather give heed to rake up straws and sticks, and the dust of the floor, than to what he says that calls to him from above with the celestial crown in his hand, it is to show that heaven is but as a fable to some, and that things here are counted the only things substantial. Now, whereas it was also showed thee, that the man could look no way but downwards, it is to let thee know that earthly things, when they are with power upon men’s minds, quite carry their hearts away from God.” (pg. 181)
