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Mr. Clenham discovers Little Dorrit
Harry Furniss
1910
13.9 x 7.4 cm, framed
Dickens's Little Dorrit, in The Charles Dickens Library Edition, Book the Second, "Riches," Chapter 2, "Mrs. General," facing XII, 464.
[Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Clennam appeared at the carriage-door, bearing the little insensible figure in his arms.
"She has been forgotten," he said, in a tone of pity not free from reproach. "I ran up to her room (which Mr. Chivery showed me) and found the door open, and that she had fainted on the floor, dear child. She appeared to have gone to change her dress, and to have sunk down overpowered. It may have been the cheering, or it may have happened sooner. Take care of this poor cold hand, Miss Dorrit. Don't let it fall." [Book One, "Poverty," Chapter 36, "The Marshalsea Becomes an Orphan," 446]
Furniss, perhaps at J. A. Hammerton's suggestion, has provided the following detailed subtitle or caption for this lithograph from pen-and-ink: "She had been forgotten," Clennam related. "I ran up to her room, found the door open, and that she had fainted on the floor. She appeared to have gone to change her dress, and to have sunk down overpowered. — Dorrit, p. 446.
Although this is the same room depicted earlier in Little Dorrit tells the Story of the Princess, Furniss has altered the physical setting considerably: the bare window, devoid now of curtains, has on its window still a small plant in leaf, which Furniss may intend to a symbol of Amy, on the verge of entering an entirely new social sphere. The window casts a chequerboard pattern of bars across the barren floor, but neither these nor the shadow of the wall engulf the comatose figure of Little Dorrit, dressed for the carriage ride. Clennam looks slightly alarmed as he stretches his hand forward, as if in contemplation of arousing the sleeper, but unsure as to how to proceed. Significantly, in the caption Furniss and Hammerton have omitted the words "dear child," as if preparing the reader for the second movement of the story, which will conclude with their marriage.
Left: F. O. C. Darley's 1863 frontispiece of the scene in which William Dorrit learns of his providential inheritance, Joyful Tidings (Volume 2). Right: Phiz's scene involving the departure of the Dorrit party through the prison yard, The Marshalsea becomes an orphan (Book 1, Chapter 36; Part 11, October 1856).
Left: Sol Eytinge, Juniuor's study of the pensive Amy and her self-important parent, Little Dorrit and Her Father (1867). Right: James Mahoney's anticipation of the departure scene, with William Dorrit and his daughter asleep after they have received the good news of their inheritance: Clennam rose softly, opened and closed the door without a sound (Household Edition, Book I, Chap. 35, 216).
Dickens, Charles. Little Dorrit. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Authentic Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1901 [rpt. 30 May 1857 volume].
_______. Little Dorrit. Frontispieces by Felix Octavius Carr Darley and Sir John Gilbert. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1863. Vols. I-IV.
_______. Little Dorrit. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867.
_______. Little Dorrit. Illustrated by James Mahoney. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1873. Vol. V.
_______. Little Dorrit. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. XII.
Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter 19: Little Dorrit." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Vol. XVII, 398-427.
Created 11 February 2020
Last modified 18 November 2020