Touched with white and yellow and annotated in pencil by the artist with instructions and corrections for the engraver: The neck to be made greyer-not quite so dark. This line wants bringing in twice & then the least bit shaved off downwards to prevent it looking round shouldered. The curtain will want lightening-so as to let the table legs tell darkest.
Title from wood engraved caption; additional title from publication: Mercy making garments.
Touched proof on India paper of a wood engraving by Swain after an illustration by Frederick J. Shields for his Illustrations to Bunyan's Pilgrims progress, London : Simpkin Marshall & Co., 1864.
Illustration shows a young woman seated at a table and sewing, an open book on the table in front of her and a cat curled up at her feet; at left, a child leads an elderly woman into the room through an open doorway behind a curtain.