"'I am afraid you have been giving her some of your wicked looks, my lord,' said the intended.' Chap. XIX — Fred Barnard's seventeenth illustration for "Nicholas N ickleby" (1875)

"I am afraid you have been giving her some of your wicked looks, my lord," said the intended. — Chap. XIX, p. 117, from the Household Edition of Charles Dickens's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, illustrated by Fred Barnard with fifty-nine composite woodblock engravings (1875). 10.6 cm high by 13.7 cm wide (4 ⅛ by 5 ½ inches). Running head: "The Pleasure of Miss Nickleby's Company is Requested" (117). [Click on the illustrations to enlarge them.]

Passage Illustrated: Kate supplants Miss Knag in the showing room at Madame Mantalini's

"Pray have up that pretty young creature we saw yesterday."

"Oh yes, do," said the sister.

"Of all things in the world, Madame Mantalini," said the lord’s intended, throwing herself languidly on a sofa, "I hate being waited upon by frights or elderly persons. Let me always see that young creature, I beg, whenever I come."

"By all means," said the old lord; "the lovely young creature, by all means."

"Everybody is talking about her," said the young lady, in the same careless manner; "and my lord, being a great admirer of beauty, must positively see her."

"She is universally admired," replied Madame Mantalini. "Miss Knag, send up Miss Nickleby. You needn’t return."

"I beg your pardon, Madame Mantalini, what did you say last?" asked Miss Knag, trembling.

"You needn’t return,’ repeated the superior, sharply. Miss Knag vanished without another word, and in all reasonable time was replaced by Kate, who took off the new bonnets and put on the old ones: blushing very much to find that the old lord and the two young ladies were staring her out of countenance all the time.

"Why, how you colour, child!" said the lord’s chosen bride.

"She is not quite so accustomed to her business, as she will be in a week or two," interposed Madame Mantalini with a gracious smile.

"I am afraid you have been giving her some of your wicked looks, my lord," said the intended.

"No, no, no," replied the old lord, "no, no, I’m going to be married, and lead a new life. Ha, ha, ha! a new life, a new life! ha, ha, ha!" [Chapter XVIII, "Miss Knag, after doting on Kate Nickleby for three whole Days, makes up her Mind to hate her for evermore. The Causes which led Miss Knag to form this Resolution," 114]

Relevant Illustrations from Other Editions (1875-1910)

Above: C. S. Reinhart in the American Household Edition focusses on Kate's progress as Mrs. Mantalini's assistant in Kate trying on the bride's bonnet, — Chapter 18.

Left: Phiz introduces the seamstress's cutting-room director, Miss Knag, to Kate and readers in Madame Mantalin's establishment: Madame Mantalini introduces Kate to Miss Knag (August 1838, instalment 5). Centre: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s American Diamond Edition composite woodblock portrait of the diligent dressmaker-milliner and her shiftless husband: Mr. and Madame Mantalini (1867). Right: Harry Furniss's 1910 lithograph representing the fashionable West End dressmaker, What Ralph Nickleby saw at Mrs. Mantalini's, in the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910).

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

Scanned image, colour correction, sizing, caption, and commentary 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

Barnard, J. "Fred" (il.). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-eight illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872. I.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. With 39 illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). London: Chapman & Hall, 1839.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 4.

__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

Created 6 August 2021