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Mr. Micawber
Fred Barnard
1885, rpt. 1912?
Photogravure
12 cm high by 9 cm wide (4 ¾ by 3 ½ inches)
Volume XV, 176, in Dickens's David Copperfield in the Co-operative Publication Society Edition.
"But within half an hour afterwards, he would polish up his shoes with extraordinary pains, and go out, humming a tune with a greater air of gentility than ever."
Terry-Lynn Johnson Collection
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
His clothes were shabby, but he had an imposing shirt-collar on. He carried a jaunty sort of stick, with a large pair of rusty tassels to it, and a quizzing-glass hung outside his coat. — David Copperfield. A Series of Character Sketches from Dickens, from the Original Drawings by Frederick Barnard, p. 1.
One dirty-faced man, I think he was a boot-maker, used to edge himself into the passage as early as seven o’clock in the morning, and call up the stairs to Mr. Micawber — ‘Come! You ain’t out yet, you know. Pay us, will you? Don’t hide, you know; that’s mean. I wouldn’t be mean if I was you. Pay us, will you? You just pay us, d’ye hear? Come!’ Receiving no answer to these taunts, he would mount in his wrath to the words ‘swindlers’ and ‘robbers’; and these being ineffectual too, would sometimes go to the extremity of crossing the street, and roaring up at the windows of the second floor, where he knew Mr. Micawber was. At these times, Mr. Micawber would be transported with grief and mortification, even to the length (as I was once made aware by a scream from his wife) of making motions at himself with a razor; but within half-an-hour afterwards, he would polish up his shoes with extraordinary pains, and go out, humming a tune with a greater air of gentility than ever. [Chapter XI, “I Begin Life on My Own Account, and Don’t Like It,” p. 79 in the Household Edition]
"My address," said Mr. Micawber, "is Windsor Terrace, City Road. I — in short," said Mr. Micawber, with the same genteel air, and in another burst of confidence — ‘I live there." — David Copperfield. [1885, "Series 3."]
The principal illustrator of Chapman and Hall's 1870s twenty-two volume Household Edition, Fred Barnard, contracted with Cassell, Petter, and Galpin to produce his first series of six extra illustrations, Character Sketches from Dickens, in lithograph (including portraits of some of Dickens's best-loved early characters: Samuel Pickwick; Alfred Jingle; Bill Sikes and dog, Bull'seye; Sairey Gamp; Little Dorrit; and Sydney Carton); a second series, which also appeared in 1884, contained portraits of three paired characters (Tony and Sam Weller; Caleb Plummer and his blind daughter, Bertha; Little Nell and her grandfather), and Rogue Riderhood, Dan'l Peggotty, and Seth Pecksniff; and similarly a third and final series appeared in 1885, with portraits of Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim; Uriah Heep; Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness; Betsy Trotwood; Captain Edward Cuttle; and the indefatigable Dickens original, Wilkins Micawber.
Here, Barnard has rethought the perspective by showing Wilkins Micawber entirely by himself, as is consistent with the colour portraiture in the third series of lithographs (1885). Although the picture includes no other characters, it emphatically establishes his sartorial joie de vivre and his sense of knowing what it is to be a Londoner. In contrast to his many appearances in the various editions of David Copperfield, this illustration does not seem to be realising a particular passage; it does, however, reflect on Barnard's and other illustrators' versions of nattily dressed, highly articulate Dickens original. In particular, Barnard emphasizes his smart hat, close-fitting surtout, and imposing shirt-collar, all derived from the original Phiz plates Somebody Turns Up (October 1849) and We are Disturbed in our Cookery (February 1850), and his own I am presented to Mr. Micawber and Mr. Micawber in His Element (1872).
Left: Barnard's own version of Micawber in the London streets in the 1872 Household Edition: Mr. Micawber, impressing the names of streets and shapes of corner houses upon me as we went along, that I might find my way back easily in the morning (Chapter XI). Centre: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition dual portrait of the Micawbers: Mr. Micawber and His Family (1867). Right: Kyd (Clayton J. Clarke) captures Micawber's characteristic shabby-genteel look in the Player's Cigarette Card No. 41: Mr. Micawber (1910).
Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield, with 40 illustrations by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1850.
Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield, with 62 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. III.
Dickens, Charles. Works. Illustrated by various hands. Photogravure-Illustrated Edition. New York and London: Co-operative Publication Society, [n. d., 1912?].
A Series of Character Sketches from Dickens, from the Original Drawings by Frederick Barnard, Being Facsimiles of Original Drawings by Fred. Barnard. Series 3: Wilkins Micawber; Miss Betsey Trotwood; Captain Edward Cuttle; Uriah Heep; Dick Swiveller and The Marchioness; and Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1885.
Created 12 August 2012
Last modified 21 September 2026