01 | In old alphabet books, ‘gypsies’ are depicted as counter-figures to one’s own set of middle-class and Christian values. Typical defining characteristics include encounters on open country roads, ragged clothing, and soothsaying as a leitmotif. In this 1828 illustration, the ‘gypsy woman’ is depicted as an old witch. The addition of a half-naked ‘Negro’ figure slaying a crocodile serves to situate the ‘gypsy woman’ within a realm of wildness far from any civilisation.

Hosemann, Theodor: Das allergrösste Bilder-ABC. Berlin 1828, p. 22