The little people could do nothing without dear Newman Noggs, uncaptioned tailpiece for the sixty-fifth chapter of the novel in the Household Edition, illustrated by Fred Barnard with fifty-nine composite woodblock engravings (1875): p. 420. illustrated by Fred Barnard with fifty-nine composite woodblock engravings (1875). The framed illustration, 6.8 cm high by 9.3 cm wide (2 ¾ by 3 ¾ inches). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Passage Illustrated: A Less Funereal Farewell to the Novel
There was one grey-haired, quiet, harmless gentleman, who, winter and summer, lived in a little cottage hard by Nicholas’s house, and, when he was not there, assumed the superintendence of affairs. His chief pleasure and delight was in the children, with whom he was a child himself, and master of the revels. The little people could do nothing without dear Newman Noggs. [Chapter LXV, "Conclusion," p. 420]
Commentary
Right: The Children at Their Cousin's Grave, in which Phiz and Smike bid the reader farewell to the nineteen-month serialisation (October 1839). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
In Barnard's Household Edition's revision of the October 1839 illustration that concludes Phiz's original narrative-pictorial sequence, the children are playing with the avuncular Newman Noggs against no backdrop. In contrast, in the Phiz illustration Kate's children are playing on and around the tomb of the hapless Smike, whom Dickens has eventually revealed as Nicholas's and Kate's "cousin," that is, Ralph Nickleby's unwanted and ill-cared-for child. To reinforce Smike's having died young, Dickens describes him in the accompanying text as "the dead boy," despite the fact that he survived into adulthood. Barnard dismisses the cloyingly sweet aspect of the Phiz illustration by removing the grave and the whole churchyard setting, and replacing Kate with Newman Noggs as the children's adult playmate. Thus, Barnard mutes the original's sentimentality while maintaining the implication that the next generation will profit from Smike's suffering adversity with cheerfulness, and (unlike his uncle) having received a Christian memorial.
Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators
- Nicholas Nickleby (homepage)
- Phiz's 38 monthly illustrations for the novel, April 1838-October 1839.
- Cover for monthly parts
- Charles Dickens by Daniel Maclise, engraved by Finden
- "Hush!" said Nicholas, laying his hand upon his shoulder. (Vol. 1, 1861)
- The Rehearsal (Vol. 2, 1861)
- "My son, sir, little Wackford. What do you think of him, sir?" (Vol. 3, 1861)
- Newman had caught up by the nozzle an old pair of bellows . . . (Vol. 4, 1861).
- Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s 18 Illustrations for the Diamond Edition (1867)
- C. S. Reinhart's 52 Illustrations for the American Household Edition (1875)
- Harry Furniss's 29 illustrations for Nicholas Nickleby in the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)
- Kyd's four Player's Cigarette Cards (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
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.
Barnard, Fred, et al. Scenes and Characters from Dickens. London: Chapman & Hall, 1908.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.
_________. Nicholas Nickleby. 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.
_________. 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.
Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter 12: Nicholas Nickleby." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Vol. 17. Pp. 147-170.
Kitton, Frederic George. Dickens and His Illustrators: Cruikshank, Seymour, Buss, "Phiz," Cattermole, Leech, Doyle, Stanfield, Maclise, Tenniel, Frank Stone, Landseer, Palmer, Topham, Marcus Stone, and Luke Fildes. Amsterdam: S. Emmering, 1972. Re-print of the London 1899 edition.
Lester, Valerie Browne. Chapter 8., "Travels with Boz." Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004. 58-69.
Schlicke, Paul, ed. The Oxford Reader'sCompanion to Dickens. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1999.
Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. 14-50.
Vann, J. Don. "Nicholas Nickleby." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1985. 63.
Created 9 December 2019
Last modified 3 April 2021