diff --git a/collects/drracket/private/language.rkt b/collects/drracket/private/language.rkt
index 5616903885..d376243ddb 100644
--- a/collects/drracket/private/language.rkt
+++ b/collects/drracket/private/language.rkt
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
          ;; (which do not do compilation)
          (prefix-in el: errortrace/errortrace-lib) 
          
+         (prefix-in image-core: mrlib/image-core)
+         
          mzlib/pconvert
          racket/pretty
          mzlib/struct
@@ -402,6 +404,14 @@
                      [pretty-print-print-hook
                       (λ (value display? port)
                         (cond
+                          [(image-core:image? value)
+                           
+                           ;; do this computation here so that any failures
+                           ;; during drawing happen under the user's custodian
+                           (image-core:compute-image-cache value) 
+                           
+                           (write-special value port)
+                           1]
                           [(is-a? value snip%)
                            (write-special value port)
                            1]
diff --git a/collects/mrlib/image-core.rkt b/collects/mrlib/image-core.rkt
index 8df14e75b3..46903568a1 100644
--- a/collects/mrlib/image-core.rkt
+++ b/collects/mrlib/image-core.rkt
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ has been moved out).
   (define res (send img copy))
   (send res set-use-bitmap-cache?! (and bitmap-cache? #t))
   res)
+
+(define (compute-image-cache img)
+  (unless (image? img)
+    (error 'compute-cached-bitmap "expected an image as the first argument, got ~e" img))
+  (when (is-a? img image<%>)
+    (send img compute-cached-bitmap))
+  (void))
   
 ;; a shape is either:
 ;;
@@ -233,7 +240,10 @@ has been moved out).
         (send bdc get-bitmap)
       (send bdc set-bitmap #f))))
 
-(define-local-member-name set-use-bitmap-cache?!)
+(define-local-member-name 
+  set-use-bitmap-cache?!
+  set-cached-bitmap
+  compute-cached-bitmap)
 
 (define image%
   (class* snip% (png-convertible<%> image<%>)
@@ -320,17 +330,19 @@ has been moved out).
       (calc-scroll-step)
       (inexact->exact (ceiling (/ y scroll-step))))
 
-    (define/override (copy) (make-image shape bb normalized? pinhole))
+    (define/override (copy) 
+      (define res (make-image shape bb normalized? pinhole))
+      (when cached-bitmap
+        (send res set-cached-bitmap cached-bitmap))
+      res)
     
     (define cached-bitmap #f)
     (define use-cached-bitmap? #t)
     
-    (define/public (set-use-bitmap-cache?! u-b-c?) 
-      (set! use-cached-bitmap? u-b-c?)
-      (unless use-cached-bitmap?
-        (set! cached-bitmap #f)))
+    ;; this method is only used by the 'copy' method
+    (define/public (set-cached-bitmap bm) (set! cached-bitmap bm))
     
-    (define/override (draw dc x y left top right bottom dx dy draw-caret)
+    (define/public (compute-cached-bitmap)
       (when use-cached-bitmap?
         (unless cached-bitmap
           (set! cached-bitmap (make-bitmap (+ (inexact->exact (round (bb-right bb))) 1) 
@@ -338,7 +350,15 @@ has been moved out).
           (define bdc (make-object bitmap-dc% cached-bitmap))
           (send bdc erase)
           (render-image this bdc 0 0)
-          (send bdc set-bitmap #f)))
+          (send bdc set-bitmap #f))))
+    
+    (define/public (set-use-bitmap-cache?! u-b-c?) 
+      (set! use-cached-bitmap? u-b-c?)
+      (unless use-cached-bitmap?
+        (set! cached-bitmap #f)))
+    
+    (define/override (draw dc x y left top right bottom dx dy draw-caret)
+      (compute-cached-bitmap)
       
       (let ([alpha (send dc get-alpha)])
         (when (pair? draw-caret)
@@ -1182,7 +1202,7 @@ the mask bitmap and the original bitmap are all together in a single bytes!
 
 (provide make-image image-shape image-bb image-normalized? image%
         
-         un/cache-image
+         un/cache-image compute-image-cache
          
          (struct-out bb)
          (struct-out point)
diff --git a/collects/mrlib/scribblings/image-core.scrbl b/collects/mrlib/scribblings/image-core.scrbl
index b97cb0339e..33fb4a606c 100644
--- a/collects/mrlib/scribblings/image-core.scrbl
+++ b/collects/mrlib/scribblings/image-core.scrbl
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #lang scribble/doc
-@(require "common.ss")
+@(require "common.ss"
+          (for-label mrlib/image-core))
 
 @title{Image Core}
 
@@ -26,4 +27,13 @@ up an image.
 @defproc[(un/cache-image [image image?] [b any/c]) image?]{
   Returns an image that either caches its drawing in the 
   snip @method[snip% draw] method or doesn't, depending on @racket[b].
+}
+
+@defproc[(compute-image-cache [image image?]) void?]{
+  When the image has a bitmap-cache (which it does by default,
+  although @racket[un/cache-image] can disable it), this function
+  fills in the bitmap, doing the work to draw image into the bitmap.
+  
+  Ordinarily, the image's bitmap cache is computed the first time
+  the image is actually rendered.
 }
\ No newline at end of file