Smike

Harold Copping or the Taylors

Photographic reproduction of line drawing

Approximately 4.5 inches wide x 3 inches high

From Dickens' Dream Children, at the top of p. 49, at the head of the second chapter, "Smike, and Dotheboys Hall."

Scanned image and text 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 it in a print one.]

One of the most pathetic of Dickens's child characters is Smike, the bullied and exploited orphan whom the protagonist of Nicholas Nickleby befriends when he becomes a teacher at Wackford Squeers' academy, Dotheboys Hall, near Greta Bridge, Yorkshire. Smike becomes Nicholas's faithful companion, and eventually we that the boy is both Ralph Nickleby's son and Nicholas's cousin. Whereas Hablot Knight Browne's illustrations suggest that Smike is something of a "natural," physically deformed and mentally deficient, Mary Angela Dickens's illustrator does not depict him as unusually thin or misshapen. The moment realised is when Nicholas first meets Smike, when the boy is on his knees before the stove, putting stray cinders back on the fire. The pose intensifies our sympathy for the much-put-upon orphan, but the style of drawing does not help the reader to identify the illustrator, which may be either Harold Copping, E. M. Taylor, or M. F. Taylor.

Bibliography

Dickens, Mary Angela [Charles Dickens' grand-daughter]. Dickens' Dream Children. London, Paris New, York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1926.

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Last modified 12 September 2010