- Frontispiece: It was a wedding party and it emerged from one of the inferior streets. . . — Scenes, chap. ii.
- Title-page vignette: Outside the stage door
- The half-pay Captain completely effaced the old lady's name from the brass door-plate, in his attempts to polish it with aqua-fortis — Our Parish, chap. ii.
- "Why the Devil ain't you looking after that plate?" — Our Parish, chap. v.
- When he first came to look at the lodgings, he inquired most particularly whether he was sure to be able to get a seat in the Parish Church. — Our Parish, chap. vii.
- "It is nearly eleven o'clock, and the cold thin rain, which has been drizzling so long, is beginning to pour down in good earnest" — Scenes, chap. ii.
- Now, anybody who passed through the Dials on a hot summer's evening, and saw the different women of the house gossiping on the steps . . . — Scenes, chap. v.
- The Gravesend Boat — Scenes, chap. x.
- The gentleman described looks extremely foolish, and squeezes her hand, and fees the Gipsy liberally — Scenes, chap. xii, p. 53.
- His line is genteel comedy — his father's coal and potato. He does Alfred Highflier in the last piece. . . . — Scenes, chap. xiii, but inserted later, p. 60.
- "I may as well get board, lodgin', and washin' till then, out of the country, as pay for it myself. . . ." — Scenes, chap. xvii.
- Tureens of soup are emptied with awful rapidity — Scenes, chap. xix, p. 80
- A Gin-shop — Scenes, chap. xxii, p. 88.
- The Pawnbroker's Shop — Scenes, chap. xxiii, p. 92.
- His spare pale face looking as if it were incapable of bearing the expression of curiosity or interest — Characters, chap. i, p. 104.
- "What do you mean by that, scoundrel?" exclaimed Mr. Samuel Wilkins, grasping the gilt-knobbed dress cane — Characters, chap. iv, p. 112.
- Hurrying along a by-street, keeping as close as he can to the area railings, a man of about forty or fifty, clad in an old rusty suit of threadbare black cloth &c. — Characters, chap. x, p. 124.
- The Prisoners' Van — Characters, chap. xii, p. 132.
- "I received a note — " he said very tremulously, in a voice like a Punch with a cold. — Tales, chap. i, p. 136
- "No what?" inquired Mrs. Bloss with a look of the most indescribable alarm — Tales, chap. i, p. 140.
- The dear little fellow, having recovered his animal spirits, was standing upon her most tender foot. — Tales, chap. iii, p.156.
- "So exactly the air of a marquis," said the military gentleman — Tales, chap. iv, "The Tuggses at Ramsgate," p. 164
- "How delightful, how refreshing it is, to retire from the cloudy storms, the vicissitudes, and the troubles of life, even if it be but for a few short fleeting moments!"— Tales, chap. v, p. 172.
- The Black Veil. — Tales, chap. vi, p. 177.
- "My son!" rejoined the woman; and fell senseless at his feet. — Tales, chap. vi, facing p. 182.
- The facetious Hardy, in fulfilment of his promise, had watched the child to a remote part of the vessel. . . — Tales, chap. vii, p. 189.
- One gentleman was observed suddenly to rush from table without the slightest ostensible reason, and dart up the steps with incredible swiftness . . . . — Tales, chap. vii, p. 193.
- "Leave that 'ere bell alone, you wretched loo-nattic!" said the boots, suddenly forcing the unfortunate Trott back into his chair, and brandishing the stick aloft. — Tales, chap. viii, p. 200.
- "Why," replied Mr. Watkins Tottle, evasively; for he trembled violently, and felt a sudden tingling throughout his whole frame. . . . — Tales, chap. x, p. 209.
- "I've brought this here note," replied the individual in the painted tops in a hoarse whisper; "I've brought this here note from a gen'l'm'n as come to our house this mornin'." — Tales, chap. x, p. 216.
- Cross, cadaverous, odd, and ill-natured — Tales, chap. xi, p. 228
- He raised his manacled hands in a threatening attitude, fixed his eyes on his shrieking parent, and slowly left the room — Tales, chap. xii, p. 236
- Looks that he had long forgotten were fixed upon him once more; voices long since hushed in death sounded in his ears like the music of village bells. — Tales, chap. xii, p. 237
- Tail-piece [a corpse lying in the mudflats on the south shore of the Thames] — Tales, chap. xii, p. 240
Commentary: From the "Introductory Note" to "Scenes and Characters from Dickens" (1908)
Commissioned by Dickens's chief publishers, Chapman and Hall, to illustrate a wholly new, uniform edition of his works, Fred Barnard, Charles Green, Harry French, Gordon Thomson, A. B. Frost, James Mahoney, Edward Dalziel, and other "Illustrators of the Sixties" from 1871 through 1879 produced
a series of Dickens illustrations, now [i. e., in 1908] in some danger of being unduly neglected, in which the artists were wonderfully happy in preserving [ix/x] the original features of Phiz and Cruikshank's interpretations, while they toned down the more extravagant details and brought imagination into closer harmony with reality. These were the illustrations to the square-shaped "Household Edition," published in 1870 [i. e., 1871-79], just after the great novelist's death — and now reissued in the Dickens picture-book, in the hope that those who love the stories may like to possess in separate form what is, perhaps, the best pictorial accompaniment that the novels ever received. At the time of its first publication, the "Household Edition" enjoyed an enormous success. At the moment the name of Dickens was on every one's lips, and the fact that this splendidly illustrated reprint was issued in penny numbers and sixpenny parts placed it within reach of even the most humbly stocked purse. Its sale was stupendous, and the familiar green-covered pamphlets percolated through every town and village where the English tongue is spoken. The original copies may still be met with, under many a country timbered roof, carefully treasured as one of the most cherished household possessions.
Undoubtedly, a great part of the success was due to the art of the illustrators. To begin with, there was an unusually liberal display of pictures — the edition, as a whole, containing close upon nine hundred. But more important than the number were the truth and sincerity of the interpretations — qualities which helped to give a new life to characters already secure of immortality. First and foremost, of course, the edition will always be associated with the memory of Fred Barnard, whose pictures are the outstanding feature of the present volume. Barnard seemed destined by nature to illustrate Dickens; the spirit of "Boz" ran again in his veins. And nothing in his work is more impressively ingenious than the skill with which he took the types already created by his predecessors, preserved [x/xi] their characteristics, so that each was unmistakably himself, and yet by the illuminating touch of genius transferred them every one from the realm of caricature [i. e., the style of Robert Seymour and the other early Victorian illustrators] to that of portraiture. — "Introductory Note," pp. ix-xi.
Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators
- Cruikshank's illustrations for the anthology. 1836-1839
- F. O. C. Darley's A Visit to Newgate. 1865
- F. O. C. Darley's The Drunkard's Death. 1864
- Harry Furniss's Election for Beadle. 1910
- Harry Furniss's The Toastmaster. 1910
- Harry Furniss's Misplaced Attachment of Mr. John Dounce. 1910
- Harry Furniss's The Pawnbroker's Shop. 1910
- Harry Furniss's Meditations in Monmouth Street. 1910
- Harry Furniss's Early Coaches á la Ducrow. 1910
- Harry Furniss's The Boarding House: Mr. Tibbs. 1910
- Harry Furniss's Mr. Minns and his Cousin. 1910
- Harry Furniss's The Black Veil. 1910
- Harry Furniss's The Sheriff-Officer's Mercury. 1910
- Harry Furniss's The Great Winglebury Duel. 1910
Bibliography
Barnard, J. "Fred" (il.). Charles Dickens's Sketches by Boz, with thirty-four illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876. Volume 13.
Barnard, Fred, et al.. Scenes and Characters from Dickens. London: Chapman & Hall, 1908.
Dickens, Charles. Sketches by Boz. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Chapman & Hall, 1836.
Dickens, Charles. Sketches by Boz. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1864. Vols. 1-2.
Dickens, Charles. Christmas Books and Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875 [rpt. of 1867 Ticknor & Fields edition].
Dickens, Charles. Sketches by Boz. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 1.
Dickens, Charles, and Fred Barnard. The Dickens Souvenir Book. London: Chapman & Hall, 1912.
Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter 9: Sketches by Boz." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Vol. 17. Pp. 55-83.
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. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.
Schlicke, Paul, ed. The Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1999.
Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978.
Vann, J. Don. Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1985.
Last modified 29 May 2017