The Two Old Friends — Phiz's fourth illustration for Charles Dickens's Master Humphrey's Clock, No. 2. 4 ⅛ x 4 ½ inches (10.5 cm high by 11.5 cm wide) (London: Chapman & Hall, 11 April 1840). [Click on images to enlarge them. Mouse over links]
Context of the Illustration: The Elderly, Philosophical Companions and Editors
My old companion tells me it is midnight. The fire glows brightly, crackling with a sharp and cheerful sound, as if it loved to burn. The merry cricket on the hearth (my constant visitor), this ruddy blaze, my clock, and I, seem to share the world among us, and to be the only things awake. The wind, high and boisterous but now, has died away and hoarsely mutters in its sleep. I love all times and seasons each in its turn, and am apt, perhaps, to think the present one the best; but past or coming I always love this peaceful time of night, when long-buried thoughts, favoured by the gloom and silence, steal from their graves, and haunt the scenes of faded happiness and hope.
The popular faith in ghosts has a remarkable affinity with the whole current of our thoughts at such an hour as this, and seems to be their necessary and natural consequence. ["Master Humphrey from His Clock-side in the Chimney-corner," 5]
Commentary: An Ill-conceived Weekly Periodical Wholly by Charles Dickens
Operating in the persona of the kindly cripple and reclusive literary man, Master Humphrey, twenty-eight-year-old Dickens conceived what would turn out to be nothing more than a splendid literary failure. However, from this long-forgotten weekly miscellany Dickens launched both a ground-breaking picaresque novel about a traditional society rapidly industrializing, The Old Curiosity Shop, and an historical novel of romance in the midst of revolution, Barnaby Rudge, both illustrated like The Clock by the Clock-Works Team of George Cattermole and Hablot Knight Browne.
In our own time [circa 1910], when serial stories have become important features of daily newspapers, and monthly magazines are regarded as appearing at intervals too protracted for maintaining a continuous interest in their serials, Dickens's wish to establish in 1840 a medium that would enable him to carry his readers with him from week to week, seems to us very natural. [Hammerton, VI: i]
Harry Furniss's full-page frontispiece for this collection of stories and sketches in the sixth volume of the Charles Dickens Library Edition: From his Clock-side in the Chimney Corner (1910).
In support of his project, Dickens had advertised on the 28th of March that Master Humphrey's Clock had been wound up by clock-maker Boz and would shortly strike — "The figures and hands by George Cattermole, Esq., and Phiz" (cited by Hammerton, iii). But even the gifted illustrators could not save the miscellany from literary oblivion; despite the fact that it went through eighty-eight weekly numbers, eighty-two of these were chiefly devoted to the serialised novels The Old Curiosity Shop (25 April 1840 through 6 February 1841) and Barnaby Rudge (13 February through 27 November 1841). Phiz here effectively renders the "old friends," Master Humphrey (alert, but smoking) and the dozing Deaf Gentleman, as our conductors through a variety of sketches, squibs, and short stories. Phiz seems to be implying that the chief editor's smoking an elaborate, long-stemmed pipe serves as an aid to the exercise of his imagination and critical reflection. In their gaiters, hose, and breeches, they are old-fashioned leftovers from the Regency, and the first three tales that they "edit" all come from London's storied past, being set in the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles II. The figure of Christ in the tympanum above the oak mantelpiece implies that the selections Master Humphrey will present will be consistent with the more humanistic elements of Christianity.
Other Illustrated Editions of Master Humphrey's Clock
- Harry Furniss's Six Charles Dickens Library Edition Illustrations for Master Humphrey's Clock (1910)
- W. H. C. Groome's Illustrations for Master Humphrey's Clock (1907)
- Fred Barnard's Four Household Edition Illustrations for Master Humphrey's Clock (Vol. XX, 1879)
Scanned images and texts by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Cohen, Jane Rabb. "George Cattermole." Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio U. P., 1980. Pp. 125-134.
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. P. 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. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Volume VI.
Hammerton, J. A. "The Story of This Book." The Dickens Picture Book: A Record of the Dickens Illustrators. Master Humphrey's Clock. The Charles Dickens Library. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Pp. i-iii.
Lester, Valerie Browne Lester. Phiz! The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.
Vann, J. Don. "The Old Curiosity Shop in Master Humphrey's Clock, 25 April 1840 — 6 February 1841." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. Pp. 64-65.
Created 2 September 2022