"Mr. Folair, the pantomimist" — Furniss's thirteenth illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1910)

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Mr. Folair, the pantomimist

Harry Furniss

1910

3 ½ by 5 ½ inches (14.3 cm high x 9 cm wide), vignetted

Mr. Foliar's head was usually decorated with a very round hat, unusually high in the crown, and curled up quite tight in the brims.Round his neck he wore a worsted comforter, whereof the straggling ends peeped out beneath his threadbare Newmarket coat. He carried in his hand one very dirty glove, and a cheap dress cane with a glass handle. (382)

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, facing IV, 385.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: The Company's Shabby-Genteel Pantomimist

"Ralph Nickleby," repeated Smike. "Ralph. I’ll get that name by heart."

He had muttered it over to himself some twenty times, when a loud knock at the door disturbed him from his occupation. Before he could open it, Mr Folair, the pantomimist, thrust in his head.

Mr. Folair’s head was usually decorated with a very round hat, unusually high in the crown, and curled up quite tight in the brims. On the present occasion he wore it very much on one side, with the back part forward in consequence of its being the least rusty; round his neck he wore a flaming red worsted comforter, whereof the straggling ends peeped out beneath his threadbare Newmarket coat, which was very tight and buttoned all the way up. He carried in his hand one very dirty glove, and a cheap dress cane with a glass handle; in short, his whole appearance was unusually dashing, and demonstrated a far more scrupulous attention to his toilet than he was in the habit of bestowing upon it.

"Good-evening, sir,’ said Mr. Folair, taking off the tall hat, and running his fingers through his hair. "I bring a communication. Hem!"

"From whom and what about?" inquired Nicholas. ‘You are unusually mysterious tonight." [Chapter XXIX, "Of the Proceedings of Nicholas, and certain Internal Divisions in the Company of Mr. Vincent Crummles," 382]

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

Bibliography

Barnard, J. "Fred" (illustrator). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-eight illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872. I.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. With 39 illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). London: Chapman & Hall, 1839.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. IV.

__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

Created 27 May 2021