Harry Furniss's eighteen-volume edition of The Charles Dickens Library (London: Educational Book Company, 1910) contains some five hundred special plates (part of the total of 1,200 illustrations) and two volumes of commentary. Volume 17, by J. A. Hammerton, entitled The Dickens Picture Book: A Record of the Dickens Illustrators, contains the seventeen steel engravings by Hablot Knight Browne that appeared in the seven monthly numbers published by Chapman and Hall from June through December 1859, and thereby invites the reader to compare Phiz's steel-engravings of fifty years earlier to the "modern" lithographs of Harry Furniss for A Tale of Two Cities.
The thirteenth volume of the Charles Dickens Library Edition is entitled A Tale of Two Cities-America-Italy, because it contains Dickens's 1859 serialised novel A Tale of Two Cities, as well as the earlier periodically published pieces American Notes for General Circulation (1842), and Pictures from Italy (1845). However, Furniss has emphasized the novel over the travel essays in that he has provided an ornamental title-page and thirty-one full-page illustrations (mostly horizontally-mounted and framed lithographs) for A Tale of Two Cities, but only one each for the collections of travel essays. The proportion of illustrations for the novel exceeds slightly that of Fred Barnard's illustrations for the British Household Edition of A Tale of Two Cities, issued in 1874 with twenty-five large-scale wood engravings, but is somewhat less than the ratio of plates to text in the Harper's Weekly, which contained both thumbnails (headnote vignettes) and regular illustrations for thirty-one weekly instalments amounting to sixty-three pictures of varying dimensions. It is to Phiz's historically accurate and highly detailed engravings, however, that Furniss is chiefly responding, often matching the great caricaturist scene for scene in the "modern" (impressionistic) style of the fin de siècle. — Philip V. Allingham.
| Title and text illustrated | Facing Page | |
| 1. Sydney Carton on the Scaffold. | A Tale of Two Cities | Frontispiece (for Book Three, Chapter Fifteen: "The Footsteps Die out Forever") |
| 2. Characters in the Stories | All three books of the novel | Title-page vignettes |
| 3. Stopping the Dover Coach | Book the First, "Recalled to Life" | Chapter Two, "The Mail," facing p. 8 |
| 4. Miss Manette and Mr. Lorry interrupted | Book the First, "Recalled to Life" | Chapter Four, "The Preparation," facing p. 24 |
| 5. Defarge | Book the First, "Recalled to Life" | Chapter Five, "The Wine-shop," facing p. 33 |
| 6. The Shoemaker of the Bastille | Book the First, "Recalled to Life" | Chapter Six, "The Shoemaker," facing p. 49 (based on p. 43) |
| 7. The Likeness in Court | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Three, "A Disappointment," facing p. 64 |
| 8. Carton finds Consolation | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Four, "Congratulatory," facing p. 80 (based on p. 78) |
| 9. The Storm | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Six, "Hundreds of People," facing p. 97 |
| 10. The Marquis | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Seven, "Monseigneur in Town" facing p. 104 |
| 11. The Fountain — an Allegory | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Seven, "Monseigneur in Town" facing p. 112 (based on p. 104) |
| 12. Mr. Stryver | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Eleven, "A Companion Picture," facing p. 128 (based on p. 132) |
| 13. The Confidential Clerk of Tellson's Bank | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Twelve, "The Fellow of Delicacy," facing p. 136 (based on p. 133) |
| 14. Carton rejected | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Thirteen, "The Fellow of No Delicacy," facing p. 144 |
| 15. The Spy's Funeral | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Fourteen, "The Honest Tradesman," p. 153 (based on p. 147) |
| 16. Knitting | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Fifteen, "Knitting," p. 161 |
| 17. "John Barsad," The Spy | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Sixteen, "Still Knitting," p. 168 (based on p. 168-170) |
| 18. Lucie and her Father under the Plane-tree | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Seventeen, "One Night," p. 176 |
| 19. Doctor Manette's "Old Companion" | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Nineteen, "An Opinion," p. 192 |
| 20. The Fall of the Bastille | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Twenty-one, "Echoing Footsteps," p. 201 |
| 21. The End of Foulon | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Twenty-two, "The Sea Still Rises," p. 217 (based on p. 212) |
| 22. Sydney Carton | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter Twenty, "A Plea," facing p. 225 (based on p. 195) |
| 23. On the Way to Paris | Book the Second, "The Golden Thread" | Chapter One, "On the Road to Paris," facing p. 232 |
| 24. Darnay arrested | Book the Third: The Track of the Storm | Chapter 1, "In Secret," facing p. 241 |
| 25. The Grindstone | Book the Third: The Track of the Storm | Chapter 2, "The Grindstone," facing p. 256 |
| 26. The Carmagnole | Book the Third: The Track of the Storm | Chapter 5, "The Wood-Sawyer," facing p. 265 |
| 27. Darnay arraigned before the Judges | Book the Third: The Track of the Storm | Chapter 6, "Triumph," facing p. 272 |
| 28. A Knock at the Door | Book the Third: The Track of the Storm | Chapter 13, "A Knock at the Door," facing p. 280 |
| 29. Dr. Manette appeals for Justice | Book the Third: The Track of the Storm | Chapter 9, "The Game Made," facing p. 289 |
| 30. Farewell! | Book the Third: The Track of the Storm | Chapter 11, "Dusk," facing p. 320 |
| 31. Sydney Carton and the little Seamstress | Book the Third: The Track of the Storm | Chapter 13, "Fifty-Two," facing p. 337 |
| 32. Struggle between Miss Pross and Madame Defarge | Book the Third: The Track of the Storm | Chapter 14, "The Knitting Done," facing p. 352 |
Related Materials: Other Programs of Illustration (1859-1905)
- Phiz's 17 steel engravings from the Chapman and Hall monthly serialisation in seven numbers (June-December 1859)
- John McLenan's wood-engravings for 31 instalments in the Harper's Weekly serialisation (1859)
- Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s 8 wood-engravings from the Ticknor and Fields Diamond Edition (1867)
- Fred Barnard's 25 wood-engravings for the Chapman and Hall Household Edition (1874)
- A. A. Dixon's 12 lithographs for the Collins Pocket Edition (1905)
Bibliography
Allingham, Philip V. "'Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Illustrated: A Critical Reassessment of Hablot Knight Browne's Accompanying Plates." Dickens Studies. 33 (2003): 109-158.
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.
Bolton, H. Philip. Dickens Dramatized. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1987.
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. All the Year Round. 30 April through 26 November 1859.
_____. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. 7 May through 3 December 1859.
_____. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne. London: Chapman and Hall, 1859.
_____. A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Illustrated Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867. Vol. XIII.
_____. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. VIII.
_____. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by A. A. Dixon. London: Collins, 1905.
_____. A Tale of Two Cities, American Notes, and Pictures from Italy. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Vol. XIII.
Created 2 January 2014 Last updated 30 May 2023