"John and Mrs. Browdie and Fanny Squeers" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s tenth illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1867)

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John and Mrs. Browdie and Fanny Squeers

Sol Eytinge, Jr.

1867

Wood-engraving

9.9 x 7.4 cm (framed)

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby (Diamond Edition), facing IV, 286.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use these images 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 the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: John Browdie and His Bride visit London

"Ye’d betther inquire, mun," [to the waiter at the Saracen's Head] said John Browdie. "An’ hond up another pigeon-pie, will ‘ee? Dang the chap," muttered John, looking into the empty dish as the waiter retired; "does he ca’ this a pie — three yoong pigeons and a troifling matther o’ steak, and a crust so loight that you doant know when it’s in your mooth and when it’s gane? I wonder hoo many pies goes to a breakfast!"

After a short interval, which John Browdie employed upon the ham and a cold round of beef, the waiter returned with another pie, and the information that Mr. Squeers was not stopping in the house, but that he came there every day and that directly he arrived, he should be shown upstairs. With this, he retired; and he had not retired two minutes, when he returned with Mr. Squeers and his hopeful son.

<.p>"Why, who’d have thought of this?" said Mr. Squeers, when he had saluted the party and received some private family intelligence from his daughter.

"Who, indeed, pa!" replied that young lady, spitefully. "But you see ‘Tilda is married at last."

"And I stond threat for a soight o’ Lunnun, schoolmeasther," said John, vigorously attacking the pie.

"One of them things that young men do when they get married," returned Squeers; "and as runs through with their money like nothing at all! How much better wouldn’t it be now, to save it up for the eddication of any little boys, for instance! They come on you," said Mr. Squeers in a moralising way, "before you’re aware of it; mine did upon me."

"Will ‘ee pick a bit?" said John. [Chapter XXXIX, "In which another old Friend encounters Smike, very opportunely and to some Purpose," 286]

Illustrations from Other Editions about Smike's Rescue and Reapprehension (1839-1910)

Left: Phiz's introduction of the Snawley likewise occurs in the context of a group scene: Nicholas Engaged as Tutor in a Private Family (August 1838). Right: Fred Barnard's Household Edition illustration of John's coming to Smike's rescue: Darting in, covered Smike's mouth with his huge hand before he could utter a sound (1875).

Left: C. S. Reinhart's American Household Edition portrait of John, barely suppressing his glee at outsmarting Squeers: John was sitting on the bed, with the reddest face ever seen. Harry Furniss's study of John Browdie in the scene in which Snawley celebrates Smike's escape: Mr. Snawley's thankfulness on discovering Smike (1875).

Above: Barnard represents Squeers's thumbing his nose at Nicholas as he is sure that Ralph's plot will succeed: Mr. Squeers executes an impromptu 'Pas Seul' (1875).

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.

_______. Nicholas Nickleby.Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. IV.

_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Ed. Andrew Lang. Illustrated by 'Phiz' (Hablot Knight Browne). The Gadshill Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1897. 2 vols.

_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 9.

Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter 12: Nicholas Nickleby." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Vol. 17, 147-170.

Kitton, Frederic George. Dickens andHis 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.

Lester Valerie Browne. Chapter 8., "Travels with Boz." Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004. 58-69.

Loomis, Rick. First American Editions of Charles Dickens: The Callinescu Collection, Part 1. Yarmouth, ME: Sumner & Stillman, 2010.

Schlicke, Paul, ed. The Oxford Reader'sCompanion to Dickens. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1999.

Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. 14-50.

Vann, J. Don. "Nicholas Nickleby." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1985. 63.

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.

Last modified 16 September 2021