"Dame Durden" — Esther and Ada from “Bleak House” — Felix O. C. Darley's frontispiece for the volume from 'Dickens' Little Folks" (1861)

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"Dame Durden" — “Little Woman” from “The Bleak House”

Felix O. C. Darley

Annin-Loomis

1861

11.4 x 7.6 cm (4 ½ by 3 inches) vignetted

Steel engraving

Originally published by Redfield (New York: 1856).

[Click on illustration to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: "Dame Durden" from “Bleak House” in “Preface” (1856)

So many moral pictures are presented to the admiring reader of Bleak House, that the portraiture of “Dame Durden — little woman,” — as she stands with her ringing keys the centre of a variously colored group — must not be omitted in the gallery of “Little Folks,” although it shines there rather an an elder sister than a Little Nell.

The character of the Little Housekeeper excites our respect for its self-sacrificing spirit, and we rejoice as we read of its unexpected reward. [1]

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.

Cohen, Jane Rabb. Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Canton: Ohio U. P., 1980.

Darley, Felix Octavius Carr (illustrator). Dame Durden — Little Woman from “The Bleak House” of Charles Dickens. in Dickens' Little Folks. New York: Redfield, 1856.

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

Last modified 18 June 2024