"Mr. Peggotty" by Harold Copping

Mr. Peggotty

Harold Copping

Photographic reporduction of line drawing

Dickens' Dream Children

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham

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Mary Angela Dickens and her lead illustrator, Harold Copping, chose Daniel Peggotty as the character who epitomises the childhood of David Copperfield, the child protagonist who most reflects Dickens himself as a child. Copping depicts Peggotty as a fisherman, an "old salt," complete with grizzled beard, small pipe, and sou'wester, on the Yarmouth sands with the beach (the "Denes") stretching out behind him. The opening of the chapter clearly establishes him as David's surrogate father who has already adopted the orphans Ham and Em'ly. The chapter ends with David's acquiring a surrogate mother, Betsey Trotwood, after the ordeal on the London to Dover road.

Bibliography

Dickens, Mary Angela [Charles Dickens' grand-daughter]. Dickens' Dream Children. London, Paris New, York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., c. 1930s.

Last modified 18 September 2010