Passage Illustrated: Pip Astonishes Uncle Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe

“Now, boy! What was she a-doing of, when you went in today?” asked Mr. Pumblechook.

“She was sitting,” I answered, “in a black velvet coach.”

Mr. Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe stared at one another — as they well might — and both repeated, “In a black velvet coach?”

“Yes,” said I. “And Miss Estella — that’s her niece, I think — handed her in cake and wine at the coach-window, on a gold plate. And we all had cake and wine on gold plates. And I got up behind the coach to eat mine, because she told me to.”

“Was anybody else there?” asked Mr. Pumblechook.

“Four dogs,” said I.

“Large or small?”

“Immense,” said I. “And they fought for veal-cutlets out of a silver basket.”

Mr. Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe stared at one another again, in utter amazement. I was perfectly frantic, — a reckless witness under the torture, — and would have told them anything.

“Where was this coach, in the name of gracious?” asked my sister.

“In Miss Havisham’s room.” They stared again. “But there weren’t any horses to it.” I added this saving clause, in the moment of rejecting four richly caparisoned coursers which I had had wild thoughts of harnessing.

“Can this be possible, uncle?” asked Mrs. Joe. “What can the boy mean?”

“I’ll tell you, Mum,” said Mr. Pumblechook. “My opinion is, it’s a sedan-chair. She’s flighty, you know, — very flighty, — quite flighty — quite flighty enough to pass her days in a sedan-chair.” [Chapter IX, 49]

Related Illustrations from Other Editions

: Marcus Stone's frontispiece for the 1862 Illustrated Library Edition shows Pip enchanted by a Fairy Godmother rather than utterly puzzled by an ancient bride: I wait upon Miss Havisham. Centre: In the first American serialisation, periodical illustrator John McLenan emphasizes Uncle Pumblechook's self-importance: "Leave this lad to me, Ma'am; leave this lad to me." (22 December 1860). Right: F. W. Pailthorpe depicts the scene in which Pip presents Joe to his benefactress; in fact, at this point she solidifies his place in the class structure by funding Pip's apprenticeship: I present Joe to Miss Havisham (1885).

Other Artists’ Illustrations for Dickens's Great Expectations

• A Comparison of Fraser's Illustrations in the original 1870s Household Edition plates and those in the Collier New York edition of 1900
• J. Clayton Clarke or "Kyd" (2 coloured lithographs)
• Felix O. C. Darley (2 plates)
• A. A. Dixon (8 lithographs)
• Sol Eytinge, Jr. (8 wood-engravings)
• F. A. Fraser (30 wood-engravings)
• Harry Furniss (28 plates)
• Charles Green (10 lithographs)
• Frederic W. Pailthorpe (21 lithographs)
• John McLenan (40 plates)
• Marcus Stone (8 plates)

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Imperial Edition. 16 vols. London: Gresham Publishing Company [34 Southampton Street, The Strand, London], 1901-3.

Created 19 January 2002

Last updated 29 April 2026