Dickens and His Illustrators Part 29

This figure appears in the Ill.u.s.tration ent.i.tled "Up the River." _Vide_ "The Mystery of Edwin Drood."

_Lent by the Artist._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

It will readily be conceded that Mr. Fildes's ill.u.s.trations for d.i.c.kens's final romance are remarkable for a serious and sound draughtsmans.h.i.+p, while the life-like delineation of the various characters, as well as the pictorial exact.i.tude of backgrounds and accessories, invite careful study and examination. Without unduly disparaging the excellent etchings by Cruikshank and "Phiz," it must be admitted that there is a vitality appertaining to Mr. Fildes's designs which imparts to them a reality not always discoverable in the ill.u.s.trations produced by those admirable artists.

APPENDIX

I

ILl.u.s.tRATORS OF CHEAP EDITIONS

C. R. LESLIE, R.A.--Design for "Pickwick"--Was.h.i.+ngton Irving's Tribute to the Artist--Portrait of "d.i.c.kens as Captain Bobadil"--T. WEBSTER, R.A.--His Picture of "Dotheboys Hall"--A. BOYD HOUGHTON--Ill.u.s.trations for "Hard Times" and "Our Mutual Friend"--G. J. PINWELL--Ill.u.s.trations for "The Uncommercial Traveller"--Interesting Portrait of the Novelist--F. WALKER, A.R.A.--Ill.u.s.trations for "Reprinted Pieces" and "Hard Times"--Ill.u.s.trators of the Household Edition--C. GREEN, F. BARNARD, J. MAHONEY, E. G.

DALZIEL, F. A. FRASER, G. THOMSON, H. FRENCH, A. B. FROST, and J. M^CL. RALSTON--Charles Green's Ill.u.s.trations for "The Old Curiosity Shop," "Great Expectations," and the Christmas Books--F. BARNARD, the _Premier_ Ill.u.s.trator of d.i.c.kens--The Novels Ill.u.s.trated by him--His Favourite Model--Tragic Death of the Artist--An American Household Edition--New Designs by C. S. REINHART, T. WORTH, W. L. SHEPPARD, E. A. ABBEY, A. B.

FROST, and T. NAST--Ill.u.s.trations by J. M^CLENAN--F. O. C.

DARLEY--His Reputation as a Draughtsman--His Designs for an American Household Edition Engraved on Steel--Independent Ill.u.s.trations--Death of the Artist--Sir JOHN GILBERT'S Designs for "Holiday Romance"--G. G. WHITE--S.

EYTINGE--Prolific Contributor to Books and Periodicals--His Picture of "Mr. Pickwick's Reception"--Designs for the Diamond Edition, &c.--Character Sketches--d.i.c.kens's Admiration of the Artist's Conceptions--Gives a Sitting for his Portrait--A Unique Print--Eytinge Visits Gad's Hill--Ill.u.s.trations by H. BILLINGS for "A Child's Dream of a Star"--The "Christmas Carol" Designs by GAUGENGIGL and CHOMINSKI--"The Cricket on the Hearth" Designs by MAROLD and MITTIS, and L. ROSSI--Some d.i.c.kens Ill.u.s.trations by J. NASH, T. W. WILSON, J. E. CHRISTIE, and G. BROWNE--Designs by E.

J. WHEELER for "Tales from Pickwick"--Ill.u.s.trations by PHIL MAY, MAURICE GREIFFENHAGEN, and HARRY FURNISS--Coloured Frontispieces for the Temple Library Edition.

[Sidenote: =C. R. Leslie, R.A.=]

Besides the ill.u.s.trators of the original issues of Charles d.i.c.kens's novels there are other distinguished artists concerning whose designs for the cheaper editions some mention should be made in the present work. Besides Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., who has already been referred to as supplying the frontispiece to the first cheap issue of "American Notes," d.i.c.kens was under a similar obligation to two other Royal Academicians, Leslie and Webster, for frontispieces to the first cheap edition of "Pickwick" (1847) and "Nicholas Nickleby" (1848) respectively. Charles Robert Leslie, of whom Thackeray once said that no artist possessed so much as he "the precious quality of making us laugh kindly," found a suitable subject in the twelfth chapter of "The Pickwick Papers," his ill.u.s.tration representing Mrs. Bardell fainting in the arms of Mr. Pickwick,--an incident that had already been depicted by "Phiz." The original picture by Leslie--which was a commission from d.i.c.kens--is a cabinet-painting in grisaille or monochrome; it realised 137, 11s. at the sale of the novelist's effects in 1870, and is now the property of Mr. William Wright, of Paris. It seems probable that d.i.c.kens owed his introduction to this artist through the friendly intervention of Was.h.i.+ngton Irving, who, in May 1841, thus wrote to the novelist: "Do you know Leslie the painter, the one who has recently painted a picture of Queen Victoria? If you do not, I wish you would get acquainted with him. You would like one another. He is full of talent and right feeling.

He was one of my choice and intimate companions during my literary sojourn in London. While I was making my early studies with my pen, he was working with his pencil. We sympathised in tastes and in feelings, and used to explore London together, and visit the neighbouring villages, occasionally extending our researches into different parts of the country. He is one of the purest and best of men, with a fine eye for nature and character, and a true Addisonian humour." In 1846 Leslie produced his well-known picture of d.i.c.kens as Captain Bobabil, in Ben Jonson's play, "Every Man in his Humour," which was exhibited in the Royal Academy the same year; shortly afterwards the painting was reproduced in lithography by T. H. Maguire, impressions of which (especially those that were coloured) are now very scarce.

[Sidenote: =T. Webster, R.A.=]

The first cheap edition of "Nicholas Nickleby" was embellished by means of a frontispiece engraved on wood by T. Williams from the picture by T.

Webster, R.A., which (like Leslie's) was painted for the novelist. This exquisite painting (measuring only ten inches by seven inches) depicts the familiar scene at Dotheboys Hall, where Mrs. Squeers administers the much-dreaded brimstone and treacle; at the d.i.c.kens sale the interesting little picture realised the substantial sum of 535, 10s. It is said that the artist was so thorough and so persistent in ill.u.s.trating the humours of boys' schools that he earned the _sobriquet_ of "Dotheboys Webster."

[Sidenote: =A. B. Houghton and G. J. Pinwell=]

[Sidenote: =F. Walker, A.R.A.=]

The first cheap editions of later works were graced with frontispieces from the pencils of two artists better known as draughtsmen than as painters. These were A. Boyd Houghton, who designed the frontispiece for "Hard Times" (1865) and "Our Mutual Friend" (1867), and G. J. Pinwell, who furnished an ill.u.s.tration for "The Uncommercial Traveller"

(1865)--all of which were engraved on wood by the Dalziel Brothers. In 1868 Pinwell likewise contributed four excellent woodcut ill.u.s.trations to the Library Edition of the same work,[51] and it is interesting to note that in one of these, "Leaving the Morgue," he has introduced a full-length presentment of the novelist.[52] a.s.sociated with the Library Edition we find the name of Fred. Walker, A.R.A., whose position as a designer in black-and-white stands high in the first rank of English masters. This clever artist prepared four ill.u.s.trations respectively for "Reprinted Pieces" and "Hard Times" (1868), and for refinement of execution they have probably never been excelled. Fred. Walker, the painter of those world-famous pictures known as "The Harbour of Refuge,"

"The Bathers," "The Lost Path," &c., died prematurely of consumption in 1875, at the age of thirty-five, a loss which all artists and art-lovers have never ceased to deplore. The Library Edition of the "Christmas Stories" is ill.u.s.trated by F. A. Fraser, H. French, E. G. Dalziel, J.

Mahoney, Townley Green, and Charles Green, fourteen woodcuts in all.

Footnote 51: The later volumes of the Library Edition were issued at intervals during 1862-1868.

Footnote 52: The Library Edition of "The Uncommercial Traveller" also contains four ill.u.s.trations signed "W.M.,"

which are much inferior to Pinwell's designs.

After d.i.c.kens's death, that is, during 1871-79, Chapman & Hall issued a Household Edition of his novels, ensuring their further popularity by inserting entirely fresh ill.u.s.trations. The artists selected for this undertaking were Charles Green, Fred. Barnard, J. Mahoney, E. G.

Dalziel, F. A. Fraser, Gordon Thomson, H. French, A. B. Frost, and J.

M^{c}L. Ralston, nearly all of whom had already been represented in the Library Edition. In commenting upon these designs, it may be remarked that, of his numerous ill.u.s.trators, d.i.c.kens has never been more sympathetically interpreted than by Charles Green and Fred. Barnard.

[Sidenote: =Charles Green.=]

The thirty-two ill.u.s.trations contributed by Charles Green to the Household Edition of "The Old Curiosity Shop" contrast most favourably with those by "Phiz" in the original issue; these drawings, which, for the most part, were made upon paper by means of the brush-point, are entirely free from the gross exaggeration and caricature which impart such grotesqueness to the majority of the figure subjects by Hablot Browne for this story. Mr. Green's design for the wrapper enclosing each part of the Crown Edition of the novelist's works (subsequently published by Chapman & Hall) is cleverly conceived, for here he has introduced all the leading personages, happily grouped around the princ.i.p.al figure, Mr. Pickwick, who occupies an elevated position upon a pile of books representing the novels of d.i.c.kens. A few years ago Messrs. A. & F. Pears commissioned Mr. Green to design a number of ill.u.s.trations for a series of their Annuals, the artist's services being specially retained for the following reprints of d.i.c.kens's Christmas Books: "A Christmas Carol" (1892), twenty-seven drawings; "The Battle of Life" (1893), twenty-nine drawings; "The Chimes" (1894), thirty drawings; and "The Haunted Man" (1895), thirty drawings. His latest productions as a d.i.c.kens ill.u.s.trator consist of a series of ten new designs, reproduced by photogravure for the Gads.h.i.+ll Edition of "Great Expectations," recently published by Chapman & Hall. Undoubtedly Mr.

Green's most important work in connection with d.i.c.kens is to be found in his water-colour drawings of scenes from the novels, of which a complete list is given in the chapter ent.i.tled "d.i.c.kens in Art."[53]

Footnote 53: During the printing of this work, the death was announced of Mr. Charles Green, R.I., who succ.u.mbed to a painful illness of long standing.

[Sidenote: =Fred. Barnard.=]

Fred. Barnard has come to be considered, _par excellence_, the ill.u.s.trator of the famous novelist; indeed, he has been not inaptly termed "the Charles d.i.c.kens among black-and-white artists." Like d.i.c.kens himself, he was essentially a humorist, and his designs, although never lacking in infectious humour, had always something in them which raised them above the commonplace. To his skilful and vigorous pencil the Household Edition is indebted for the majority of the ill.u.s.trations appearing therein, as the following list testifies: "Sketches by Boz,"

"Nicholas Nickleby," "Martin Chuzzlewit," "Barnaby Rudge," "Master Humphrey's Clock" (incidental chapters), "David Copperfield," "Dombey and Son," "Bleak House," "Christmas Books," "A Tale of Two Cities,"

"Hunted Down," "Holiday Romance," and "George Silverman's Explanation,"--making a grand total of nearly four hundred and fifty drawings. There is no doubt that Fred. Barnard "knew his d.i.c.kens" as well as any man, and he produced (independently of the foregoing designs) a number of pictures and drawings of characters and scenes from the novels, to which special reference is made in the next chapter.

Mr. M. H. Spielmann informs me that, for the purposes of his d.i.c.kensian subjects, the model who sat to Barnard was the late well-known French.

The tragic death (in his fiftieth year) of this popular artist in September 1896 is not yet forgotten. He had accustomed himself to the pernicious habit of smoking in bed, and falling asleep (under the influence of a powerful drug) while his pipe was yet alight, the bedding caught fire, with the result that he was suffocated by the smoke, his body being much burned.

[Sidenote: =American "Household Edition."=]

The Household Edition was simultaneously published in London and New York, Harper & Brothers having arranged with Chapman & Hall to be supplied with _cliches_ of the ill.u.s.trations. For some reason, however, the English engravings do not appear in several of the volumes thus issued in America, there being subst.i.tuted for them a similar number of entirely new designs by the following American artists: C. S. Reinhart ("Nicholas Nickleby," "The Uncommercial Traveller," and "Hard Times"), Thomas Worth ("The Old Curiosity Shop"), W. L. Sheppard "Dombey and Son"), E. A. Abbey, R.A. ("Christmas Stories"), A. B. Frost "Sketches by Boz"), and Thomas Nast ("Pickwick" and "American Notes").

Mr. Nast has also ill.u.s.trated various d.i.c.kens subjects for American magazines, and independent works such as "Gabriel Grub" (from "Pickwick"), issued by M^cLoughin as a Christmas book. Mr. Frost is likewise responsible for twelve ill.u.s.trations engraved on wood for an edition of "Pickwick" published a few years ago by Ward, Lock & Co., of London and New York; and there is a design by him in _Scribner's Magazine_, December 1897, ent.i.tled "That Slide," and depicting the familiar scene described in the thirtieth chapter of "Pickwick." In 1859 Harper & Brothers printed "A Tale of Two Cities" as a serial in _Harper's Weekly_, with thirty-four woodcut ill.u.s.trations by a New York artist, J. M^cLenan, and in the following year the same firm similarly produced "Great Expectations," with twenty-seven ill.u.s.trations by that artist, the first chapter appearing in November 1860. Both stories were subsequently issued in volume form by T. B. Peterson & Brothers, of Philadelphia.

[Sidenote: =F. O. C. Darley.=]

Perhaps the best of d.i.c.kens's American ill.u.s.trators was Felix Octavius Carr Darley, a most eminent and successful "character" draughtsman, whose productions are both original and clever. When, in 1860, an octavo edition (also designated the Household Edition) was prepared by W. A.

Townsend & Co. of New York, it was proposed that the services of Darley and Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Gilbert should be secured as ill.u.s.trators for the new venture, this resulting in the American artist executing nearly the whole of the vignette designs, all of which a.s.sumed the form of frontispieces. He had already prepared more than five hundred ill.u.s.trations for an edition of Cooper's novels, so it is probable that the excellence of those drawings led to his engagement in a like capacity for this Household Edition of d.i.c.kens. His designs, which were beautifully engraved on steel, are very refined both as regards conception and execution, and are especially interesting as indicating an intelligent appreciation, on the part of a Transatlantic artist, of the novelist's characterisation, the extravagant and grotesque being instinctively avoided. Darley, although born in Philadelphia in 1822, was the son of an English actor; his natural gift for drawing was properly encouraged, and he developed into one of the most efficient book-ill.u.s.trators of his time; in addition to this he achieved a distinct reputation through the production of large prints, such as "The Village Blacksmith," "The Unwilling Labourer," "The Wedding Procession,"

"Was.h.i.+ngton's Entry into New York," and other popular subjects. The d.i.c.kens series of designs have recently been reprinted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (Boston and New York) for their Standard Library Edition.

Darley also prepared six drawings for a little work ent.i.tled "Children from d.i.c.kens's Novels," and subsequently painted a series of eight familiar scenes from d.i.c.kens, which were reproduced as photo-etchings and issued in sets; these afterwards appeared in an Imperial Edition of the novelist's works by Estes & Lauriat, Boston, U.S.A. Darley continued to occupy himself with his art up to the end of his life, but withdrew in his latter years from the cities to his home at Clayton, Delaware, where he died, March 27, 1888.[54]

Footnote 54: For many of these particulars I am indebted to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.'s Standard Library Edition of d.i.c.kens's Works.

[Sidenote: =Sir John Gilbert, R.A.=]