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Wackford Squeers and his cane
Harold Copping
1924
Line drawing in lithograph
4 ⅛ inches high by 3 ⅝ inches wide (10.8 x 9.1 cm)
From "Smike, and Dotheboys Hall in Children's Stories from Dickens, p. 90.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"We go upon the practical mode of teaching, Nickleby; the regular education system. C-l-e-a-n, clean, verb active, to make bright. to scour. W-i-n, win, d-e-r, der, winder, a casement. When the boy knows this out of a book he goes and does it. It's just the same principle as the use of the globes. Where's the second boy?" ["Smike, and Dotheboys Hall," Children's Stories from Dickens, 87]
If one regards previous illustrations of the odious Yorkshire schoolmaster as constituting comic precdents, Copping had little choice but to present Squeers as a caricature. He has chosen not to contrast or diverge from the characterisations of previous illustrators, notably Phiz's version of the villainous, brutal, myopic, sadistic headmaster of Dotheboys Hall as physically distorted to imply his warped character. However, Copping's interpretation is relatively realistic and three-dimensional, and he presents the cane as more than a prop, for it symbolizes Squeers' use of the threat of force to tyrannize over the classroom.
Left: Harry Furniss's version focuses on misshapen body and apelike face: Mr. Squeers (1910). Centre: Phiz's realisation of Squeers' dosing a reluctant student: The Yorkshire Schoolmaster at The Saracen's Head (April 1838). Right of centre: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s study of the Squeers family at Dotheboys' Hall: Mr. and Mrs. Squeers, and Wackford (1867). Right: Clayton J. Clarke's study of the rough-and-ready, one-eyed schoolmaster: Mr. Wackford Squeers (1898?).
Clarke, Clayton J. ('Kyd'). The Characters of Charles Dickens pourtrayed in a series of original water colour sketches by "Kyd." [Lithographs] London, Paris, and New York: Raphael Tuck, n. d. [1898?]
Dickens, Charles. The LIfe and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.
Dickens, Mary Angela, Percy Fitzgerald, Captain Edric Vredenburg, and Others. Illustrated by Harold Copping with eleven coloured lithographs. Children's Stories from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1893.
Matz, B. W., and Kate Perugini; illustrated by Harold Copping. "Nicholas Nickleby." Character Sketches from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1924. Pp. 39-51.
Created 11 October 2023