"What I want, is heart." — twenty-first illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

"What I want, is heart." by W. L. Sheppard. Twenty-first illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter XXI, "New Faces," p. 123. 9.3 x 13.5 cm (3 ⅝ by 5 ¼ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Edith Granger, Major Bagstock, and The Native Introduced

Harry Furniss's study of the fatuous Major: Joey B. (1910).

“They libel me. There is only one change, Mr Dombey,” observed Mrs. Skewton, with a mincing sigh, “for which I really care, and that I fear I shall never be permitted to enjoy. People cannot spare one. But seclusion and contemplation are my what-his-name —”

“If you mean Paradise, Mama, you had better say so, to render yourself intelligible,” said the younger lady.

“My dearest Edith,” returned Mrs Skewton, “you know that I am wholly dependent upon you for those odious names. I assure you, Mr. Dombey, Nature intended me for an Arcadian. I am thrown away in society. Cows are my passion. What I have ever sighed for, has been to retreat to a Swiss farm, and live entirely surrounded by cows—and china.”

This curious association of objects, suggesting a remembrance of the celebrated bull who got by mistake into a crockery shop, was received with perfect gravity by Mr. Dombey, who intimated his opinion that Nature was, no doubt, a very respectable institution.

“What I want,” drawled Mrs. Skewton, pinching her shrivelled throat, “is heart.” It was frightfully true in one sense, if not in that in which she used the phrase. “What I want, is frankness, confidence, less conventionality, and freer play of soul. We are so dreadfully artificial.”

We were, indeed.

“In short,” said Mrs Skewton, “I want Nature everywhere. It would be so extremely charming.” [Chapter XXI, "New Faces," pp. 122-123]

Commentary: Dickens now broadens the social range of the novel

Sol Eytinge, Junior's study of the puffed up Major and his much-put-upon servant: Major Bagstock and The Native (1867).

The Sheppard illustration brings together the "blue-faced" Major Bagstock, whom Dickens had introduced in the previous chapter, the pseudo-juvenile invalid, Mrs. Skewton, and the bewitching widow, Mrs. Edith Granger. Pushed off to the margin is Major Bagstock's sad-faced factotum, the servant whom Bagstock has brought back with him from his colonial posting, the long-suffering Native. Undoubtedly the composition owes much to Phiz's April 1847 illustration Major Bagstock is delighted to have that opportunity, but Sheppard in his caption focuses upon Mrs. Skewton's superficiality rather than the Major's puffery, and Sheppard directs the reader's eye to the stilted figure of Mr. Dombey (left of centre), finally emerging from mourning, and the beautiful Edith Granger (right of centre). The horizontal orientation permits Sheppard to introduce all six figures theatrically, on the same plane, avoiding the cramped grouping evident in Phiz's illustration. Sheppard, however, in focussing upon a natural and comfortable disposition of the figures has neglected the backdrop which Phiz so effectively realizes in the satirical, "Silver Fork" scene.

Illustrations of scenes related to Major Bagstock in Other Editions

Left: Phiz's April 1847 illustration Major Bagstock is delighted to have that opportunity, in which the serial illustrator introduces the egotistical retired major and the future Mrs. Dombey, Edith Granger. Centre: Harry Furniss's dynamic illustration of this significant meeting: Mr. Dombey meets Edith (1910). Right: Fred Barnard's study in grief: "Take advice from plain old Joe, and never educate that sort of people, sir." (British Household Edition, 1877).

Left: Clayton J. Clarke's Player's Cigarette Card No. 7 watercolour study, Major Bagstock (1910). Centre: W. H. C. Groome's dual character study for the Collins Pocket Edition: The unfortunate Native suffered terribly (1900). Right: Detail of Phiz's second study of the Major and his valet, Chapter 26: "Joe B. Is Sly, Sir, Devilish Sly" (June 1847).

Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son (1846-1910)

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Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard. The Household Edition. 18 vols. New York: Harper & Co., 1873.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1862. Vols. 1-4.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [62 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880. II.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. IX.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). The Clarendon Edition, ed. Alan Horsman. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974.

Created 1 February 2022