A female figure, closely veiled, stands in the middle of the room. . .
Felix O. C. Darley
1863
9 x 8.8 cm vignetted
Photogravure
[Click on illustration to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham from his personal collection.
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Passage Illustrated
Mr. Bucket, still having his professional hold of Jo, and appearing to Mr. Snagsby to possess an unlimited number of eyes, makes a little way into this room, when Jo starts, and stops.
"What's the matter?" says Bucket in a whisper.
"There she is!" cries Jo.
"Who?"
"The lady!"
(A female figure, closely veiled, stands in the middle of the room, where the light falls upon it. It is quite still, and silent. The front of the figure is towards them, but it takes no notice of their entrance, and remains like a statue.) [Chapter 22, "Mr. Bucket," II, 143]
Commentary
Darley has chosen a lengthy quotation for his caption so that the reader can easily determine the passage and situation realised: “A female figure, closely veiled, stands in the middle of the room, where the light falls upon it. It is quite still, and silent. The front of the figure is towards them, but it takes no notice of their entrance, and remains like a statue.” The moment of suspense works effectively as an illustrationas the detective, Mr. Bucket, interrogates the crossing-sweeper, Jo (identified immediately by his broom) as to whether this is the veiled woman he has seen. The illustration underscores the significance of the question without giving away the answer — that the veiled "lady" is Hortense, Lady Dedlock's maid, and not Lady Dedlock herself, the significant diferences being Lady Dedlock's more deilcate hands and her superior rings. The scene, set in the lawyer Tulkinghorn's rooms, has the additional benefit of introducing three of the principal characters, although neither Lady Dadlock, nor Esther Sommerson, nor Harold Skimpole appears in it, the fourth character (in the background) being Snagsby. Jo in particular appears in a number of the original plates, affording Darley several models such as The Crossing-Sweeper.
Bibliography
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
The Characters of Charles Dickens pourtrayed in a series of original watercolours by "Kyd." London, Paris, and New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, n. d.
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr. Character Sketches from Dickens. Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, 1888.
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. New York: Seldon and Company, 1863. Vol. 2.
Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [61 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875.
Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter 18: Bleak House." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 17. Pp. 366-397.
Kyd [Clayton J. Clarke]. Characters from Dickens. Nottingham: John Player & Sons, 1910.
"Bleak House — Sixty-one Illustrations by Fred Barnard." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, Being Eight Hundred and Sixty-six Drawings by Fred Barnard, Gordon Thomson, Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz), J. McL. Ralston, J. Mahoney, H. French, Charles Green, E. G. Dalziel, A. B. Frost, F. A. Fraser, and Sir Luke Fildes. London: Chapman and Hall, 1907.
Vann, J. Don. Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985.
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Last modified 9 November 2015