"I found Mr. Micawber sitting in a corner, looking darkly at the sheriff's officer who had effected the capture." 1872. Fifty-fourth illustration by Fred Barnard for the Household Edition of David Copperfield (Chapter LVII, "The Emigrants," but positioned on p. 393). Descriptive Headline: "Mr. Micawber's Hopes Again Blighted" (401). 9.7 x 13.9 cm (3 ¾ by 5 ½ inches), framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it. Mouse over text for links.]
Passage Illustrated: Micawber Faces the Ultimate Challenge to his Emigration Scheme
W. H. C. Groome's more prosaic interpretation of the departure, "And when does the ship sail, Mr. Micawber?" (1907).
Mr. Micawber withdrew, and was absent some little time; in the course of which Mrs. Micawber was not wholly free from an apprehension that words might have arisen between him and the Member. At length the same boy reappeared, and presented me with a note written in pencil, and headed, in a legal manner, "Heep v. Micawber." From this document, I learned that Mr. Micawber being again arrested, "Was in a final paroxysm of despair; and that he begged me to send him his knife and pint pot, by bearer, as they might prove serviceable during the brief remainder of his existence, in jail. He also requested, as a last act of friendship, that I would see his family to the Parish Workhouse, and forget that such a Being ever lived.
Of course I answered this note by going down with the boy to pay the money, where I found Mr. Micawber sitting in a corner, looking darkly at the Sheriff's Officer who had effected the capture. On his release, he embraced me with the utmost fervour; and made an entry of the transaction in his pocket-book—being very particular, I recollect, about a halfpenny I inadvertently omitted from my statement of the total. [Chapter LVII, "The Emigrants," pp. 401-402]
Commentary: Further Comedy Precedes "The Tempest"
The scene with the bailiffs occurs after the tragic deaths of Steerforth and Ham in the letterpress, but Barnard has inserted this comic moment between his two storm scenes, perhaps to intensify its melodrama. Dickens's original illustrator, Phiz, and the post-Barnard illustrator, Harry Furniss, both dwell on the more heroic aspects of the Micawbers' relocating Down Under in this chapter. Once again, David (right) and Aunt Betsey will bail out the ever-needy and precariously indebted Micawber. Barnard juxtaposes Micawber's facing the bailiff (right) with the dockside scene (left) to make this ultimate hurdle more dramatic.
The Epic Emigration of the Micawbers and Peggottys (1850 and 1910 Editions)
Left: Harry Furniss's Charles Dickens Library Edition realisation of the
Micawbers' preparations for the Australian voyage has a markedly humorous undertone as
Micawber poses in his nautical attire:
Related Material
- David Copperfield (homepage)
- Phiz's 40 serial illustrations for David Copperfield (May 1849 - November 1850)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 1, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 2, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 3, 1862)
- Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
- W. H. C. Groome's 7 illustrations for the Collins Clear-type Pocket Edition, Vol. I (1907)
- Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Cards, 1910
- Harry Furniss's 29 Illustrations for Dickens's The Personal Experience and History of David Copperfield in the Charles Dickens Library Edition (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.]
The copy of the Household Edition from which this picture was scanned was the gift of George Gorniak, Editor of The Dickens Magazine, whose subject for the fifth series, beginning in January 2010, is this novel.
Bibliography
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.
Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Centenary Edition. 2 vols. London and New York: Chapman & Hall, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911.
_______. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. V.
_______. David Copperfield, with 61 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. III.
_______. The Personal History and Experiences of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. X.
Created 17 August 2016 Last modified 24 August 2022