"A shot is to be taken at this man." — forty-third illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

"A shot is to be taken at this man." by W. L. Sheppard. Forty-third illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter LI, "Mr. Dombey and The World," page 292. Page 291's Heading: "Mr. Dombey and The Major." 9.2 x 13.5 cm (3 ⅝ by 5 ⅜ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Bagstock counsels challenging Carker to a Duel

KPhiz's original study of the socialite, the leech, and the self-pitying husband, avuncular, Mr. Dombey and the World (January 1848).

“Now, Dombey,” says the Major, “our friend Feenix having, with an amount of eloquence that Old Joe B. has never heard surpassed — no, by the Lord, Sir! never!” — says the Major, very blue, indeed, and grasping his cane in the middle — “stated the case as regards the lady, I shall presume upon our friendship, Dombey, to offer a word on another aspect of it. Sir,” says the Major, with the horse’s cough, “the world in these things has opinions, which must be satisfied.”

“I know it,” rejoins Mr. Dombey.

“Of course you know it, Dombey,” says the Major, “Damme, Sir, I know you know it. A man of your calibre is not likely to be ignorant of it.”

“I hope not,” replies Mr Dombey.

“Dombey!” says the Major, “you will guess the rest. I speak out — prematurely, perhaps — because the Bagstock breed have always spoke out. Little, Sir, have they ever got by doing it; but it’s in the Bagstock blood. A shot is to be taken at this man. You have J. B. at your elbow. He claims the name of friend. God bless you!”

“Major,” returns Mr Dombey, “I am obliged. I shall put myself in your hands when the time comes. The time not being come, I have forborne to speak to you.” [Chapter LI, "Mr Dombey and The World," ]

Commentary: Mr. Dombey Worries about His "Public Image"

Dombey confides that he is acquiring intelligence as to where abroad Carker may have fled, but that, since he is still awaiting information about his location — and Edith's it is not certain yet, and he is not ready to take action. THe reader possesses binocular vision through the illustrations, appreciating and assessing both Florence's future prospects after leaving her father's house, and appraising Dombey's fixation on preserving his public image. He intends to play the "wronged husband" by taking a very public revenge on Carker. He is still mulling over how he can preserve his public image by repaying in person the grave insult by punishing a former trusted employee who is very much his social inferior.

As an avid reader of illustrated popular fiction and a commercial artist, Sheppard would likely have been aware of the original January 1848 Phiz illustration for this chapter, Mr. Dombey and the World, in which a background detail, the partially covered oil painting of Edith Dombey, informs the postures and motivations of the three men gathered to commiserate: the wronged husband, the superficial, socially-connected cousin of the absconded wife, and the pompous leech who has attached himself to the wealthy merchant. But Sheppard brings the focus back to the three men as they consider what to do. Major Bagstock, of course, believes that the problem is soluble by violence: If Dombey can simply shoot the other man (Carker, the turncoat Manager), he will assuage his feelings of anguish; Dombey's feelings about his ex-wife do not enter into Bagstock's calculations. Mr. Dombey, having ensconced himself in an emotional deep-freeze, could not care less about his daughter or even his ex-wife; rather, what matters is preserving his public persona as the World (London society) processes the recent events at the Dombey mansion.

Although Sheppard suggests that a large canvas occupies the wall to the left of the bellicose Major, Sheppard frames the troubled, pensive Dombey with an ornate moiror above the mantelpiece, above a flaring coal-fire. To one side of Dombey is the sage counnsellor of caution, Cousin Feenix, just returned from a diplomatic mission to Baden Baden. To the other is the belligerent retired colonial administrator who wants Dombey to punish the "other" man. Neither suggests that Dombey should examine his own behaviour and how his aloof egotism compelled Edith to leave him.

Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son (1846-1910)

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard. The Household Edition. 18 vols. New York: Harper & Co., 1873.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1862. Vols. 1-4.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [62 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880. II.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. IX.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). The Clarendon Edition, ed. Alan Horsman. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974.

Created 24 February 2022