"Mr. and Miss Murdstone and Mrs. Copperfield" — second illustration by Sol Eytinge, Jr., for the Diamond Edition (1867)

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Mr. and Miss Murdstone and Mrs. Copperfield

Sol Eytinge

Wood engraving

10.1 high x 7.5 cm wide (4 by 3 inches), vignetted, facing p. 28.

Second full-page Illustration for Dickens's David Copperfield in the Ticknor and Fields (Boston), 1867, Diamond Edition. See below for commentary. [Mouse over the text for links.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Commentary

The subject of this second illustration is the parental figures in David's childhood: the cruel stepfather, Mr. Murdstone, his cold, unfeeling sister, Jane Murdstone, and David's well-meaning but weak-willed mother, Clara Copperfield. Although the grouping might suggest any one of a number of moments in the first-person, retrospective narrative, an interchange of the facing page may have been what the publisher hadin mind when inserting Eytinge's illustration:

"It's very hard," said my mother, "that in my own house —"

"My own house?" repeated Mr. Murdstone. "Clara!"

"Our own house, I mean," faltered my mother, evidently frightened, — "I hope you must know what I mean, Edward, — it's very hard that in your own hose I may not have a word to say about domestic matters." [Ch. IV, "I Fall into Disgrace," 28]

Related Resources

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield, illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Centenary Edition. London & New York: Chapman & Hall, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911 [rpt. from 1850]. 2 vols.

_______. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. V.

Created 8 January 2011

Last modified 11 July 2022