"'Thank you. I have no desire to read it,' was her answer." — Fred Barnard's twenty-seventh illustration for "Dombey and Son" (1877)

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"Thank you. I have no desire to read it," was her answer

Fred Barnard

1877

13.7 cm high x 10.6 cm wide, three-quarter-page, framed.

composite wood-block engraving

Dombey and Son, 192

Illustration for Chapter 26, "Shadows of the Past and Future," in Dickens's Dombey and Son, in the Household Edition, XV.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham

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Passage Illustrated: Florence's Neglected as "only the daughter"

"How very odd you are to-day, my dear! Pray let me say, my love, that Major Bagstock has brought the kindest of notes from Mr Dombey, proposing that we should breakfast with him to-morrow, and ride to Warwick and Kenilworth. Will you go, Edith?"

"Will I go!" she repeated, turning very red, and breathing quickly as she looked round at her mother.

"I knew you would, my own," observed the latter carelessly. "It is, as you say, quite a form to ask. Here is Mr Dombey’s letter, Edith."

"Thank you. I have no desire to read it," was her answer.

"Then perhaps I had better answer it myself," said Mrs. Skewton, "though I had thought of asking you to be my secretary, darling." As Edith made no movement, and no answer, Mrs. Skewton begged the Major to wheel her little table nearer, and to set open the desk it contained, and to take out pen and paper for her; all which congenial offices of gallantry the Major discharged, with much submission and devotion. [Chapter 26, "Shadows of the Past and Future," 191]

Other Illustrators' Studies of Mrs. Skewton (1847 and 1867)

Left: Harry Furniss's character study of the Hon. Mrs. Skewton, Edith Granger's mother and Mr. Dombey's future mother-in-law: Mrs. Skewton (1910). Centre: Phiz's celebrated characterization of the egotistical major introducing himself to Mrs. Skewton and her daughter: Major Bagstock is delighted to have that opportunity (March 1847). Right: Eytinge's characterization of the the beautiful Ediith Granger and her repulsive mother: Edith and Mrs. Skewton (1867).

Related Material including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son

Dombey and Son (homepage)
Phiz's 39 illustrations for Dombey and Son, Wholesale Retail & for Exportation (Oct. 1846 — April 1848)
Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 illustrations (1867)
The Illustrators of the Household Edition of the Works of Charles Dickens (22 vols., 1871-79)
Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Cards for Dombey and Son (1910)
Harry Furniss's illustrations for the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Phiz. (Hablot K. Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1848.

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

_______. Dombey and Son.16 Illustrations by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and A. V. S. Anthony (engraver). The Diamond Edition. 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 — Sixty-two Illustrations by Fred Barnard." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, Being Eight Hundred and Sixty-six Drawings by Fred Barnard, Gordon Thomson, Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz), J. McL. Ralston, J. Mahoney, H. French, Charles Green, E. G. Dalziel, A. B. Frost, F. A. Fraser, and Sir Luke Fildes. London: Chapman and Hall, 1907.

Created 30 December 2020