‘The Boa Constrictor’ in The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, No. 36

This arresting woodcut gracing the cover of the Penny Magazine exemplifies the eye-catching imagery that periodicals have used to capture readers from the 1830s to today. As the accompanying article explains, the artist observed the fearsome encounter at the Surrey Zoological Gardens. This time the rabbit got away.