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Household Edition: Uncaptioned Frontispiece, Smike and Nicholas
Charles S. Reinhart
1875
composite woodblock engraving
6.5 x 4.5 cm, vignette
The Works of Charles Dickens, "Household Edition": The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. New York. Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"Well, Smike," said Nicholas, as cheerfully as he could speak, "let me hear what new acquaintances you have made this morning, or what new wonder you have found out, in the compass of this street and the next one."
"No," said Smike, shaking his head mournfully; "I must talk of something else today."
"Of what you like," replied Nicholas, good-humouredly.
"Of this," said Smike. "I know you are unhappy, and have got into great trouble by bringing me away. I ought to have known that, and stopped behind—I would, indeed, if I had thought it then. You — you — are not rich; you have not enough for yourself, and I should not be here. You grow," said the lad, laying his hand timidly on that of Nicholas, "you grow thinner every day; your cheek is paler, and your eye more sunk. Indeed I cannot bear to see you so, and think how I am burdening you. I tried to go away today, but the thought of your kind face drew me back. I could not leave you without a word." The poor fellow could say no more, for his eyes filled with tears, and his voice was gone.
"The word which separates us," said Nicholas, grasping him heartily by the shoulder, "shall never be said by me, for you are my only comfort and stay. I would not lose you now, Smike, for all the world could give. The thought of you has upheld me through all I have endured today, and shall, through fifty times such trouble. Give me your hand. My heart is linked to yours. We will journey from this place together, before the week is out. What, if I am steeped in poverty? You lighten it, and we will be poor together." [Chapter XX, "Wherein Nicholas at length encounters his Uncle, to whom he expresses his Sentiments with much Candour. His Resolution," p. 113]
Nicholas, having come from a distressing family interview, now determines to leave London with Smike in order to avoid being a burden and source of distress for his widowed mother. The illustrator establishes as the keynote in the title-page vignette the sentimental strain involving Nicholas's relationship with Smike. The facing frontispiece, which distracts the reader from Nicholas' concern for his friend's failing health in the vignette, introduces the other members of the Nicholas's family.
Left: In the 1867 Diamond Edition Sol Eytinge. Jr., focuses on one of story's central relationships, the friendship of the much-put-upon student and the discharged usher: Nicholas and Smike (frontispiece). Centre: In the title-page vignette for the British Household Edition, Fred Barnard focuses not upon the rather bland protagonist, but on one of the novel's chief comic characters, Neuman Noggs. Right: The Barnard frontispiece complements the title-page vignette by focussing on the sordid and brutal Yorkshire schoolmaster in The schoolmaster and his companion looked steadily at each other for a few seconds, and then exchanged a very meaning smile. (1875). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Barnard, J. "Fred" (il.). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-eight illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1875.
__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.
Created 20 December 2019
Last modified 2 April 2021
