The Ornamental Covers for Our Mutual Friend with sixteen full-page illustrations by by Sol Eytinge, Jr. 1867 and 1870. 7.4 cm high by 10 cm wide (3 by 4 inches) in the Ticknor and Fields (Boston) Diamond Edition, and Lee & Shepard (Boston), and Charles T. Dillingham (New York) 1870 Illustrated Household Edition.
Commentary: The Original and Re-issued Diamond Edition (1867, 1870)
The American "Diamond Edition" and "Illustrated Household Edition" volumes are both more compact and less highly illustrated than those which Chapman and Hall issued in the regular editions following serialisation, but approximately the same size as the Illustrated Library Edition volumes issued by Chapman and Hall. By 1870, American publishers must have been aware that Harper and Brothers in New York was about to collaborate with London's Chapman and Hall on an entirely new, double-columned edition of Dickens's works, formatted like Dickens's weekly Household Words, but heavily illustrated with wood engravings. The monumental edition would be illustrated by entirely fresh artists and issued over a decade. Thus, Lee and Shepard, taking over from Ticknor and Fields of Boston, used the term "Illustrated Household Edition" to capitalise on the name of its rival's project.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham, Professor Emeritus, Lakehead University. [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.]
Bibliography
Schlicke, Paul, ed. The Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1999.
Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Vol. VIII. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867.
Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. in the Illustrated Household Edition. Boston: Lee and Shepard, and New York: Charles T. Dillingham, 1870.
Kitton, Frederic George. Dickens and His Illustrators: Cruikshank, Seymour, Buss, "Phiz," Cattermole, Leech, Doyle, Stanfield, Maclise, Tenniel, Frank Stone, Landseer, Palmer, Topham, Marcus Stone, and Luke Fildes. Amsterdam: S. Emmering, 1972. Re-print of the London 1899 edition.
Winter, William. "Charles Dickens" and "Sol Eytinge." Old Friends: Being Literary Recollections of Other Days. New York: Moffat, Yard, & Co., 1909. Pp. 181-202, 317-319.
Created 19 August 2011 last updated 16 March 2023