A Chip of the Old Block — Phiz's twelfth illustration for Charles Dickens's Master Humphrey's Clock, No. 9, "Mr. Weller's Watch." 3 ¼ x 4 ½ inches (8.5 cm high x 11.3 cm wide). (London: Chapman & Hall, 13 June 1840), p. 129. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Context of the Illustration: Tony Weller Introduces His Grandson
With these pathetic words, which were addressed to something outside the door about two feet six from the ground, Mr. Weller introduced a very small boy firmly set upon a couple of very sturdy legs, who looked as if nothing could ever knock him down. Besides having a very round face strongly resembling Mr. Weller’s, and a stout little body of exactly his build, this young gentleman, standing with his little legs very wide apart, as if the top-boots were familiar to them, actually winked upon the housekeeper with his infant eye, in imitation of his grandfather.
"There’s a naughty boy, mum," said Mr. Weller, bursting with delight, "there’s a immoral Tony. Wos there ever a little chap o’ four year and eight months old as vinked his eye at a strange lady afore?"
As little affected by this observation as by the former appeal to his feelings, Master Weller elevated in the air a small model of a coach whip which he carried in his hand, and addressing the housekeeper with a shrill ‘ya — hip!’ inquired if she was ‘going down the road;’ at which happy adaptation of a lesson he had been taught from infancy, Mr. Weller could restrain his feelings no longer, but gave him twopence on the spot. ["Master Humphrey From His Clock Side in the Chimney Corner," pp. 129-130]
Commentary: Even the Saccharine Tony Weller, Jr., could not save the 1840 Miscellany
When the public did not respond with the anticipated warmth to Dickens's new miscellany Master Humphrey's Clock, despite the two tragic short stories by the Guildhall Giants Gog and Magog, Dickens revived his readers' favourite Pickwick characters: jovial Samuel Pickwick; his valet, the aphoristic Sam Weller; and his bluff, dialectal, and corpulent father, the coachman Tony Weller. But even the innovation of another Weller, the precocious son of Sam, could not save the fledgling miscellany. What the public expected and what Dickens finally after three numbers of Clock felt compelled to offer was a new picaresque novel in forty weekly serial instalments, The Old Curiosity Shop (25 April 1840 through 6 February 1841).
Undoubtedly Dickens had had Tony Weller in the [clock] works before his initial appearance in "Mr. Weller's Watch," published simultaneously with the third chapter of The Old Curiosity Shop in the 23 May 1840 (sixth) number of The Clock. But Dickens must have had high hopes for maintaining the weekly miscellany as more than a mere vehicle for his new serial as he offered the "Second Chapter of Mr. Pickwick's Tale" and Phiz's Tony Weller and His Grandson for "Further Particulars of Master Humphrey's Visitor" (pp. 69-72) in the 25 April 1840 (fourth) number. Unfortunately for the fate of the miscellany, "Mr. Pickwick's Tale" of Will Marks and the Kingston-upon-Thames witches did not match the standards of credibility and consistency set by the "Giants' Chronicles" in the opening number.
Relevant Illustrations from Other Editions (1840 and 1907)
Left: "Now I'm grandfather" by W. H. C. Groome (1907). Centre: Phiz's Tony Weller and His Grandson in "Further Particulars of Master Humphrey's Visitor" (25 April 1840). Right: "He wouldn't pass vun single blessed post." by W. H. C. Groome (Collins Pocket Edition, 1907).
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 text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these 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 1841, plus the final part, 4 December 1841.
_______. 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 4 September 2022