[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Illustration —> Henry Furniss —> David Copperfield —> Next]

Passages Illustrated: The Inimitable "Mr. Dick" (a. k. a., Richard Babley)

"What do you think of that for a kite?" he said.

I answered that it was a beautiful one. I should think it must have been as much as seven feet high.

"I made it. We'll go and fly it, you and I," said Mr. Dick.Do you see this?"

He showed me that it was covered with manuscript, very closely and laboriously written; but so plainly, that as I looked along the lines, I thought I saw some allusion to King Charles the First’s head again, in one or two places.

"There’s plenty of string," said Mr. Dick, "and when it flies high, it takes the facts a long way. That’s my manner of diffusing ‘em. I don’t know where they may come down. It’s according to circumstances, and the wind, and so forth; but I take my chance of that."

His face was so very mild and pleasant, and had something so reverend in it, though it was hale and hearty, that I was not sure but that he was having a good-humoured jest with me. So I laughed, and he laughed, and we parted the best friends possible.

"Well, child," said my aunt, when I went downstairs. "And what of Mr. Dick, this morning?" [Chapter XIV, "My Aunt Makes up her MInd about Me," pp. 202-203]

Mr. Dick Introduced 350 pages earlier than his Character Study

Mr. Dick, as I have already said, was grey-headed, and florid: I should have said all about him, in saying so, had not his head been curiously bowed — not by age; it reminded me of one of Mr. Creakle’s boys’ heads after a beating — and his grey eyes prominent and large, with a strange kind of watery brightness in them that made me, in combination with his vacant manner, his submission to my aunt, and his childish delight when she praised him, suspect him of being a little mad; though, if he were mad, how he came to be there puzzled me extremely. He was dressed like any other ordinary gentleman, in a loose grey morning coat and waistcoat, and white trousers; and had his watch in his fob, and his money in his pockets: which he rattled as if he were very proud of it. [Chapter XIII, "The Sequel of My Resolution," 194]

Commentary: The Benign Madman and his Oversized Kite

The faithful companion of Aunt Betsey Trotwood is a benign madman whom Dickens closely identifies with his kite and his great literary work, the "Memorial" to the ill-fated King Charles the First, who like "Mr. Dick" lost his head — not metaphorically, but literally. Every illustrator of the novel has attempted this singular figure, the gentle lunatic with a heart of gold, but Furniss's is the most compelling portrait, the head scratching gesture admirably suggesting his constant state of bewilderment. As is the case with the 1867 Diamond Edition's illustration of this peculiar character, Furniss presents him alone and without much in the way of contextual detail, except of course for his enormous kite, which exemplifies his whimsical and boyish nature.

Other Studies of Mr. Dick from Other Editions (1849, 1867, & 1872)

Left: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition study of the the unlikely duo, the Aunt with the razor-sharp mind and her well-meaning lunatic companion: Miss Trotwood and Mr. Dick (1867). Centre: Fred Barnard's later Household Edition study of the benign madman: "Then I have got it, boy!" said Mr. Dick." in Chapter 45 (1872). Right: Phiz's original serial portrait of Mr. Dick: Mr. Dick fulfills my Aunt's prediction in Chapter XLV (July 1850).

Relevant Illustrated Editions of this Novel (1849 through 1910)

• Hablot Knight Browne's Forty steel engravings for the Chapman and Hall Edition (May 1849 through November 1850)
• O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 1, 1863)
• O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 2, 1863)
• Sir John Gilbert's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 3, 1863)
• O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 4, 1863)
• Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 wood engravings for the Diamond Edition (1867)
• Fred Barnard's 62 Composite Woodblock Engravings for the Household Edition (1872)
• Clayton J. Clarke's (Kyd's) Watercolours and Player's Cigarette Card Designs (1889)

Bibliography

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

Cordery, Gareth. "Remaking Miss Mowcher's Acquaintance." Dickens Quarterly 29, 1 (March 2012): 11-31.

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

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. 2 vols.

_______. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. V.

_______. David Copperfield, with 61 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. III.

_______. The Personal History and Experiences of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. X.

Hammerton, J. A., ed. The Dickens Picture-Book: A Record of the the Dickens Illustrations. London: Educational Book, 1910.

Rodas, Julia Miele. "Tiny Tim, Blind Bertha, and the Resistance of Miss Mowcher: Charles Dickens and the Uses of Disability." Dickens Studies Annual 34 (2004): 51-97.

Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978.

---

Victorian
Web

Illus-
tration

Harry
Furniss

Index

Next

Created 15 March 2022