Shady Faces

Approximately ten male characters are pressed together, showing only a bunch of grinning and grotesque faces. Their features, half buried in the shadows, are outlined in white against a black background, which makes them seem even more disturbing.

This engraving illustrates a paragraph of the story, “How the Chateau d’Azay Came to Be Built,” from Droll Stories, where one of the characters, nearly unconscious, sees people who think he’s dead leaning over him.

The caption reads in the original French: Sorevers, maistres myres.
The translation provided here is from the edition published in London by the Bibliophilist Society, 1874.