"What! Introducing his friend?" — fourth illustration by Phiz for Dickens's "Pickwick Papers" (Household Edition, 1874)

What! Introducing his friend? (See page 11.) by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne) for Chapman and Hall's Household Edition Dickens's Pickwick Papers (1874), p. 9. Chapter II, "The First Day's Journey, and the First Evening's Adventures; with their Consequences." Wood-engraving, 4 ⅛ inches high by 5 ½ inches wide (10.6 cm high by 14.3 cm wide), framed, half-page; referencing text on page 11; descriptive headline: "Going to the Ball" (p. 9). [Click on the illustration to enlarge it.]

The Context of the Illustration: Alfred Jingle excites Dr. Slammer's Jealousy

"Lots of money — old girl — pompous doctor — not a bad idea — good fun," were the intelligible sentences which issued from his lips. Mr. Tupman looked inquisitively in his face.

"I’ll dance with the widow," said the stranger.

"Who is she?" inquired Mr. Tupman.

"Don’t know — never saw her in all my life — cut out the doctor — here goes." And the stranger forthwith crossed the room; and, leaning against a mantel-piece, commenced gazing with an air of respectful and melancholy admiration on the fat countenance of the little old lady. Mr. Tupman looked on, in mute astonishment. The stranger progressed rapidly; the little doctor danced with another lady; the widow dropped her fan; the stranger picked it up, and presented it — a smile — a bow — a curtsey — a few words of conversation. The stranger walked boldly up to, and returned with, the master of the ceremonies; a little introductory pantomime; and the stranger and Mrs. Budger took their places in a quadrille.

The surprise of Mr. Tupman at this summary proceeding, great as it was, was immeasurably exceeded by the astonishment of the doctor. The stranger was young, and the widow was flattered. The doctor’s attentions were unheeded by the widow; and the doctor’s indignation was wholly lost on his imperturbable rival. Doctor Slammer was paralysed. He, Doctor Slammer, of the 97th, to be extinguished in a moment, by a man whom nobody had ever seen before, and whom nobody knew even now! Doctor Slammer — Doctor Slammer of the 97th rejected! Impossible! It could not be! Yes, it was; there they were. What! introducing his friend! Could he believe his eyes! He looked again, and was under the painful necessity of admitting the veracity of his optics; Mrs. Budger was dancing with Mr. Tracy Tupman; there was no mistaking the fact. There was the widow before him, bouncing bodily here and there, with unwonted vigour; and Mr. Tracy Tupman hopping about, with a face expressive of the most intense solemnity, dancing (as a good many people do) as if a quadrille were not a thing to be laughed at, but a severe trial to the feelings, which it requires inflexible resolution to encounter. [Chapter II, "The first day's journey, and the first evening's adventures, with their consequences," pp. 11-12]

Commentary: Establishing Alfred Jingle as a Trouble-maker

Having connected the reader with one of the original serial's earliest illustrations — The Pugnacious Cabman by Seymour — Phiz now presents a scene in his revised and augmented Household Edition sequence that Dickens's first Pickwick illustrator never attempted: the social gathering of the select families and military notables in a garrison town [probably Chatham] on the first Pickwickian journey in the second chapter of the novel. Wisely, Seymour had chosen to focus on the comic possibilities of mistaken identities arising from Dr. Slammer's challenging Alfred Jingle (dressed in Winkle's club suit) to a duel, for which Seymour's Dr. Slammer's Defiance (April 1836) prepares us much better than this Household Edition illustration of Tupman and the "Stranger" (i. e., Alfred Jingle, centre) being introduced to Mrs. Budger (right) at the charity ball. However, the man ("with a ring of upright black hair," p. 11) looking angrily back over his shoulder at the outsiders and (and at the rich widow upon whom he has had designs for some time) is almost certainly Dr. Slammer, surgeon to the Ninety-seventh regiment, from whose perspective Dickens momentarily narrates the scene.

Nevertheless, Phiz in his 1874 Household Edition illustration of an associated moment (Jingle's introducing himself to the wealthy widow) establishes the context of the quarrel between Slammer and Jingle — the charity ball in the garrison town — rather better than Seymour. Although Seymour has chosen a scene with great theatrical potential, he has failed to exploit the comic possibilities as his successor, Phiz, might have done. Both artists have endeavoured to make explicit the setting, the ballroom in the Bull Inn, which one may still see at the top of the High Street in Rochester. Seymour shows a waiter carrying a tray with drinks at the top of the staircase to indicate some sort of social function in progress, whereas Phiz actually shows multiple conversations in progress in the background.

Plates by other illustrators for the Quarrel between Jingle and Slammer, 1836 and 1910

Left: The April 1836 serial instalment of the novel provided the prelude to a duel between the Angry Man of Victorian farce and the witty Comic Man: Seymour's Dr. Slammer's Defiance. Centre: Harry Furniss's Charles Dickens Library Edition characterisation of the incident, Jingle and the Widow at the Ball/span> (1910). Right: Clayton J. Clarke's Player's Cigarette card shows the spry confidence-man in a Pickwickian green tailcoat: Mr. Jingle (1910). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Related Material: Other 19th c. Programs of Illustration

Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. Formatting by George P. Landow. [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

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.

Cohen, Jane Rabb. Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus: Ohio State U. P., 1980.

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

Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, Robert Buss, and Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, November 1837. With 32 additional illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn (London: E. Grattan, April-November 1837).

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Frontispieces by Felix Octavius Carr Darley and Sir John Gilbert. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1863. 4 vols.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 22 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 2.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 5.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. 1.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 16 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 4.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 6.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

Guiliano, Edward, and Philip Collins, eds. The Annotated Dickens.2 vols. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986. Vol. I.

Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 24-50.

Created 12 March 2012

Last modified 9 April 2024