At the Back of the North Wind is a novel exploring maternal erotics, religion, and child mortality. Its illustrations were made by Dalziel after the Pre-Raphaelite artist Arthur Hughes (see also nos. 3 and 12). The fantastical figure of the North Wind is a woman who visits in the night and takes the young hero, Diamond, on wild adventures. She veers between being colossal and human-sized, young and ancient, motherly and monstrously unknowable.
Dalziel after Arthur Hughes, illustration for George Macdonald, At the Back of the North Wind, serialised in the magazine Good Words for the Young (1869-70). Dalziel Archive Vol. XXVI (1869-70), British Museum reg. no. 1913,0415.187, print no. 1378.
By Permission of the Trustees of The British Museum. All Rights Reserved © Sylph Editions, 2016