Dickens's "Cobbs, the Boots of the Holly-Tree Inn," by Harold Copping (1924)

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Cobbs, the Boots of the Holly-Tree Inn

Harold Copping

1924

Line drawing in lithograph

4 ¼ inches high by 2 ½ inches wide (10.7 x 6.5 cm)

From Character Sketches from Dickens, p. 12.

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.]

Passages Illustrated: Cobbs Performing His Role as Boots of the Inn

Sir, boots was at this identical Holly-Tree Inn (having left it several times since to better himself, but always come back through one thing or another), when, one summer afternoon, the coach drives up, and out of the coach gets them two children. ["Mr. and Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior," Character Sketches from Dickens, 139]

"I was the Boots was at this identical Holly-Tree Inn when one summer afternoon the coach drives up, and out of the coach gets these two children. ["The Runaway Couple," Children's Stories from Dickens, 11]

Dickens is also reprising here the much-beloved Cockney character of Sam Weller, the genial and loquacious Boots at Southwark's White Hart Inn, whom he introduced in the serial Pickwick Papers in July, 1836, with an appropriate illustration by Phiz.

Left to right: (a) Page 94 (the 'broken walking-stick" from the serial number). (b) Pen-and-wash revision of the July 1836 plate. (b) First appearance of Mr. Samuel Weller (early impression, 17 November 1837). All three courtesy of C. Ralph Hayes, Sidney, British Columbia.

Related Material, Including Other Depictions of Harry, Norah, and Cobbs (1876-1911)

The Christmas Stories of Charles Dickens

E. A. Abbey's "There's Love Lane" in the American Household Edition of Christmas Stories (1876)

Harry Furniss's Arrivals at The Holly Tree in the Charles Dickens Library Edition of Christmas Stories (Vol. XVIII, 1910)

Harry Furniss's Servants at The Holly Tree in the Charles Dickens Library Edition of Christmas Stories, Vol. XVIII (1910)

Harry French's The Holly Tree Inn (1911)

Bibliography

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File (Checkmark), 1998.

Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories. Illustrated by E. A. Abbey. 19 vols. The Household Edition. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1876. Vol. 3.

Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories from "Household Words" and "All the Year Round." Illustrated by Edward Dalziel. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877, rpt. 1892, 1910. Vol. 21.

Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories from "Household Words" and "All the Year Round." Illustrated by Fred Walker, F. A. Fraser, Harry French, E. G. Dalziel, J. Manhony, Townley Green, and Charles Green. The Centenary Edition. 36 vols. London: Chapman & Hall; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911.

Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 16.

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.

Dickens, Mary Angela [Charles Dickens' grand-daughter]. Dickens' Dream Children. London, Paris, New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1924.

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, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Created 9 October 2023