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"Whose image is that!"
W. H. C. Groome
1907
12.2 x 8.0 cm, (4 ¾ by 3 ⅛ inches), framed
Lithograph
Dickens's Master Humphrey's Clock, facing page 137.
[Click on image to enlarge it and mouse over the text for links.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
‘The young hairdresser hadn’t been in the habit o’ makin’ this avowal above six months, ven he en-countered a young lady as wos the wery picter o’ the fairest dummy. “Now,” he says, “it’s all up. I am a slave!” The young lady wos not only the picter o’ the fairest dummy, but she was wery romantic, as the young hairdresser was, too, and he says, “O!” he says, “here’s a community o’ feelin’, here’s a flow o’ soul!” he says, “here’s a interchange o’ sentiment!” The young lady didn’t say much, o’ course, but she expressed herself agreeable, and shortly artervards vent to see him vith a mutual friend. The hairdresser rushes out to meet her, but d’rectly she sees the dummies she changes colour and falls a tremblin’ wiolently. “Look up, my love,” says the hairdresser, “behold your imige in my winder, but not correcter than in my art!” “My imige!” she says. “Yourn!” replies the hairdresser. “But whose imige is that?” she says, a pinting at vun o’ the gen’lmen. “No vun’s, my love,” he says, “it is but a idea.” “A idea!” she cries: “it is a portrait, I feel it is a portrait, and that ’ere noble face must be in the millingtary!” “Wot do I hear!” says he, a crumplin’ his curls. “Villiam Gibbs,” she says, quite firm, “never renoo the subject. I respect you as a friend,” she says, “but my affections is set upon that manly brow.” “This,” says the hairdresser, “is a reg’lar blight, and in it I perceive the hand of Fate. Farevell!” Vith these vords he rushes into the shop, breaks the dummy’s nose vith a blow of his curlin’-irons, melts him down at the parlour fire, and never smiles artervards.’ ["Mr. Weller's Watch," pp. 134-135]
Sam Weller, at the instigation of his father, narrates for the amusement of the company "below stairs" a pair of barber sketches since Mr. Pickwick's housekeeper seems romantically inclined towards the local barber, Mr. Slithers. In the original 1840 series, Cattermole depicted Slithers as a shadowy figure in Vignette: Initial Letter "I": Master Humphrey's Housekeeper, His Barber, and Tony Weller on the opening page of "Mr. Weller's Watch."
Sam's second barber sketch involves young "hairdresser" named William Gibbs, who prides himself on hair curling and styling. Unfortunately the young woman in whom Gibbs is interested falls in love with the male dummy in the hairdresser's window. Both Fred Barnard in the Household Edition and Groome seem to enjoy depicting the chagrined young hairstylist. But whereas Groome shows the shallow young woman looking in Gibbs's window, Barnard depicts the distraught barber destroying his rival in the fireplace.
Left: The theatrical 1872 Household Edition for the same sketch: "Vith these vords he rushes into the shop, breaks the dummy’s nose vith a blow of his curlin’-irons, melts him down at the parlour fire, and never smiles artervards.". Right: Harry Furniss, like Groome, has realised the moment when the young lady is taken with the image in the barber's window: The Blighted Hairdresser (1910).
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
Davis, Paul. "Master Humphrey's Clock." Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to his Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998, 238.
Dickens, Charles. Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by George Cattermole and Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). London: Chapman and Hall, 4 April 1840 - 6 February 41.
_______. Master Humphrey's Clock. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Reprinted Pieces, and Other Stories. With thirty illustrations by L. Fildes, E. G. Dalziel, and F. Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. XX. Pp. 253-306.
_______. Master Humphrey's Clock and Pictures from Italy. With eight illustrations by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1907. Vol. XLIX. Pp. 1-168.
_______. Barnaby Rudge and Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. Charles Dickens Library Edition. Volume VI. London: Educational Book, 1910.
Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture Book: A Record of the Dickens Illustrators. Ch. XIV. "Master Humphrey's Clock." The Charles Dickens Library. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Pp. 259-265.
Created 1 September 2022