A “Hard Frost” and George Cruikshank

An exhibit in Special Collections several years ago, entitled “Stormy Weather,” featured a case with volumes of George Cruikshank’s Comic almanack, one per month with appropriate weather highlighted. As we shiver through another January cold snap in Madison, we recall the entry for the month of January 1836:

The image, “sketched and etched” by Cruikshank, came with doggerel consistent with the publication’s purpose as an “ephemeris in jest and earnest”:

This set of the Comic almanack, part of the Thordarson Collection in the Department of Special Collections, features triple copies of each illustration, one hand-colored. Shown here for comparison are the uncolored versions of January — “Hard Frost.”  

A checklist is available to document the “Stormy Weather” exhibit, curated in 2007 by Sarah Boxhorn (Potratz).