Abstract
The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley was published in 1863 and has never been out of print. Despite its being perceived as a manifesto for ‘muscular Christianity’ in a dangerously Darwinian world, it is still generally considered to be a children’s book, though this is mainly due to the fortune of the illustrated adaptations that abound. This study focuses on the only photographically illustrated edition: the deluxe French edition of 1914, adapted by Henriette Mirabaud-Thorens, with photographs by Patrick Bataille and line drawings by Will. Herr. The adaptation is both linguistic and pictorial. Bataille situates the action in France, and Mirabaud-Thorens strips away everything too closely related to the original Victorian context. Whereas Kingsley, a fervent supporter of war, was writing at the very peak of the British Empire’s hegemony, Mirabaud-Thorens revises the work with very different ideas about patriotism during the lead-up to the First World War. Because of this historical configuration, the 1914 version is of special interest today, and the most revealing of all the French editions, being the one that best addresses the ideology of the original.
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