"Mrs. Jarley" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s eighth illustration for Dickens's "The Old Curiosity Shop" (1867)

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Mrs. Jarley

Sol Eytinge, Jr.

1867

Wood-engraving

9.9 x 7.4 cm (framed)

Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop & Reprinted Pieces (Diamond Edition), facing XII, 129.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Context of the Illustration: The Ebullient Raconteur

When Nell had exhausted her first raptures at this glorious sight, Mrs. Jarley ordered the room to be cleared of all but herself and the child, and, sitting herself down in an arm-chair in the centre, formally invested Nell with a willow wand, long used by herself for pointing out the characters, and was at great pains to instruct her in her duty.

"That," said Mrs. Jarley in her exhibition tone, as Nell touched a figure at the beginning of the platform, "is an unfortunate Maid of Honour in the Time of Queen Elizabeth, who died from pricking her finger in consequence of working upon a Sunday. Observe the blood which is trickling from her finger; also the gold-eyed needle of the period, with which she is at work."

All this, Nell repeated twice or thrice: pointing to the finger and the needle at the right times: and then passed on to the next. [Chapter XXVIII, 129]

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop and Reprinted Pieces. 18 Illustrations by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. XII.

Last modified 20 November 2020