Mrs Todgers and Bailey
Alfred Crowquill
Photomechanical reproduction of watercolour
5½ x 3½ inches
A scene from Fickens's Martin Chuzzlewit.
This postcard is a one-off illustration showing the disagreement between Mrs Todgers and her servant Bailey about the price of beer. The comic types are well-conceived, making a strong visual contrast with the female character’s beaky thinness and the boy’s flamboyant hair and confrontational stance, with one arm stuffed up a boot. Though produced in the 1860s, this image was reprinted in the 90s; the lack of a dividing line between the address and the message places it before 1902.
Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.