Dickens's "David and The Friendly Waiter" by Harold Copping (1893)

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David and The Friendly Waiter

Harold Copping

1924

Colour lithography

18.1 x 12.6 cm (7 ⅛ by 4 ⅞ inches), framed

From Character Sketches from Dickens, facing p. 98; Children's Stories from Dickens, facing p. 64

Scanned image, caption, and commentary below 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.]

Passage Illustrated: An Early Initiation into Adulthood

At Yarmouth he found dinner was ordered for him, and felt very shy at having a table all to himself, and very much alarmed when the waiter told him he had seen a gentleman fall down dead, after drinking some of their beer. David said he would have some water, and was quite grateful to the waiter for drinking the ale that had been ordered for him, for fear the people of the hotel should be offended. He also helped David to eat his dinner and accepted one of his bright shillings. [Children's Stories from Dickens, 60]

Commentary: Whom can David really trust?

Copping must have chosen the scene of "David and The Friendly Waiter" to illustrate one of those times in the protagonist's life when he is deceived and manipulated or exploited by those who are apparently his friends. It occurs when David leaves his home in Blunderstone near Yarmouth for Salem House in London, an institution based upon Dickens's memories of his own school-days at Wellington House Academy. The moment realized occurs in instalment two (Chapter 5, "I Am Sent Away from Home"), June 1849.

David interacting with adults as client or customer (1849 and 1910)

Left: Dickens's original illustrator, Phiz, introduces the waiter as a boozy caricature: The friendly waiter and I (June 1849). Right: Harry Furniss's study of David being shown woolen cloth for his mourning suit: Little David at the Undertaker's (1910).

Relevant Illustrated Editions of this Novel (1849 through 1910)

David Copperfield (homepage)
Phiz's 40 serial illustrations for David Copperfield (May 1849 - November 1850)
O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 1, 1862)
O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 2, 1862)
O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 4, 1862)
John Gilbert's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 3, 1862)
Sol Eytinge, Junior's sixteen Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
W. H. C. Groome's seven illustrations for the Collins Clear-type Pocket Edition, Vol. I (1907)
Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Cards, 1910
Harry Furniss's 29 Illustrations for Dickens's The Personal Experience and History of David Copperfield in the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). London: Chapman & Hall, May 1849 to April 1850.

Dickens, Mary Angela et al. Children's Stories from Dickens. Introduction by Percy Fitzgerald. Illustrated by Harold Copping. London, Paris New, York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1893.

Matz, B. W., and Kate Perugini; illustrated by Harold Copping. Character Sketches from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1924. Copy in the Paterson Library, Lakehead University.

Created 16 February 2009

Last modified 28 September 2023