s David Perdue and others, including J. A. Hammerton and F. G.
Kitton, have noted, the most unusual aspect of the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club
illustrations is that they had an independent life of their own, as a
project developed by young publisher William Hall and assigned to
veteran illustrator Robert Seymour, before becoming adjuncts to a
serial novel. Moreover, the first monthly part (April 1836) contained
not two but four full-page etchings. After completing just seven of
what were supposed to be the first of a series of "Cockney sporting"
illustrations for only the first and second monthly instalments, on 20
April 1836 Seymour committed suicide, shooting himself in his back
garden, supposedly distressed that Dickens, at 24 a mere youngster,
had assumed the director's role in the project.
Dickens's search for a
new illustrator led him first to Robert W. Buss, but his
engravings for the third monthly instalment ("The Fat Boy Awake on
this Occasion Only" and "The Cricket Match") did not please either the
author or his publishers, who then hired Hablot Knight Browne (who
originally signed his work as "Nemo," Latin for "Nobody," but who
subsequently adopted the pseudonym "Phiz," by which sobriquet he is
still popularly known), not yet twenty-one. Upon the conclusion of the
serial run in 1837, Phiz redrafted and etched a new set of plates,
"much superior to those issued in the monthly parts, and partly with
the original illustrations" (Hammerton 86) by his own hand, creating a
more uniform effect in the work's illustrations by eliminating
entirely the plates by Seymour and Buss. From the tenth monthly number
(January 1837) onward Phiz provided duplicate steels to allow for the
increased wear occasioned by the enormous jump in circulation that
occurred after the introduction of Sam Weller.
1. Frontispiece, "Mr.
Pickwick Addresses the Club" by Robert Seymour (ch. 1), April
1836
2. Frontispiece, by Phiz
[Pickwick and Sam Weller] 1837
3. "The Pugnacious Cabman" by Robert
Seymour (ch. 2), April 1836
4. "The Sagacious Dog" by Robert
Seymour (ch. 2), April 1836
5. "Dr. Slammer's Defiance of
Jingle" by Robert Seymour (ch. 2), April 1836
6. "The Dying Clown" by Robert
Seymour (ch. 3), May 1836
7. "Mr. Pickwick in Chase of his
Hat" by Robert Seymour (ch. 4), May 1836
8. "Mr. Winkle Soothes the
Refractory Steed" by Robert Seymour (ch. 5), May 1836
9. "The Fat Boy Awake Again" by Phiz
(ch. 8), June 1836
10. "Wardle and his Friends Under
the Influence of the Salmon" by Phiz (ch. 8) June 1836
11. "The Break-Down" by Phiz (ch.
9) July 1836
12. "First Appearance of Mr. Samuel
Weller" by Phiz (ch. 10) July 1836
13. "Mrs. Bardell Faints in Mr.
Pickwick's Arms" by Phiz (ch. 12) August 1836
14. "The Election at Eatanswill" by
Phiz (ch.13) August 1836
15. "Mrs. Lee Hunter's Fancy-Dress
Dejeuner" by Phiz (ch.15) September 1836
16. "The Unexpected 'Breaking-Up'
of The Seminary for Young Ladies" by Phiz (ch.16) September
1836
17. "Mr. Pickwick in the Pound" by
Phiz (ch.19) October 1836
18. "Mr. Pickwick and Sam in the
Attorney's Office" by Phiz (ch. 20) October 1836
19. "The Last Visit of Heyling to
the Old Man" by Phiz (ch. 21) November 1836
20. "The Middle-Aged Lady in the
Double-Bedded Room" by Phiz (ch. 22) November 1836
21. "Mr. Weller Attacks the
Executive of Ipswich" by Phiz (ch. 24) December 1836
22. "Job Trotter Encounters Sam in
Mr. Muzzle's Kitchen" by Phiz (ch. 25) December 1836
23. "Christmas Eve at Mr. Wardle's"
by Phiz (ch. 28) January 1837
24. "The Goblin and the Sexton" by
Phiz (ch. 29) January 1837 with links to 3 preparatory plates
25. "Mr. Pickwick Slides" by Phiz
(ch. 30) February 1837
26. "The first Interview with Mr.
Serjeant Snubbin" by Phiz (ch. 31) February 1837
27. "The Valentine" by Phiz (ch.
33) March 1837
28. "The Trial" by Phiz (ch. 34)
March 1837
29. "The Card-room at Bath" by Phiz
(ch. 35) April 1837
30. "Mr. Winkle's Situation when
the Door 'blew-to'" by Phiz (ch. 36) April 1837
31. "Conviviality at Bob Sawyer's"
by Phiz (ch. 38) May 1837
32. "Mr. Pickwick sits for his
Portrait" by Phiz (ch. 40) May 1837
33. "The Warden's Room" by Phiz
(ch. 41) July 1837
34. "Discovery of Jingle in the
Fleet" by Phiz (ch. 42) July 1837
35. "The Red-nosed Man discourseth"
by Phiz (ch. 45) August 1837
36. "Mrs. Bardell encounters Mr.
Pickwick in the Prison" by Phiz (ch. 46) August 1837
37. "Mr. Winkle Returns under
extraordinary Circumstances" by Phiz (ch. 47) September 1837
38. "The ghostly Passengers in the
Ghost of a Mail" by Phiz (ch. 49) September 1837
39. "Mr. Bob Sawyer's Mode of
Travelling" by Phiz (ch. 50) October 1837
40. "The Rival Editors" by Phiz
(ch. 51) October 1837
41. "Tony Weller ejects Mr.
Stiggins" by Phiz (ch. 52) November 1837
42. "Mary and the Fat Boy" by Phiz
(ch. 54) November 1837
43. "Mr. Weller and his Friends
Drinking to Mr. Pell" by Phiz (ch. 55) November 1837
Illustrators of Pickwick Papers in the 1873 Household Edition
References
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The
Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark
and Facts On File, 1999.
Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens
Picture-Book. London: Educational Book Co., 1910.
Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The
Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.
Steig, Michael. Dickens and
Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978.
Victorian
Web
Visual
Arts
Illus-
tration
Phiz
Last modified 28 January 2012
