Headnote vignette for Book II, Chapter 9, "The Gorgon's Head" in Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities" by John McLenan in "Harper's Weekly" (9 July 1859)

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Headnote Vignette: The latticed window of the bedroom of the Marquis at his chateau

7 cm high by 4.3 cm wide (3 inches by 1 ¾ inches)

John McLenan

Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Book II, Chapter 9, "The Gorgon's Head," 437.

Harper's Weekly, Vol. III, No. 132 (9 July 1859); this text from the tenth installment appeared in the UK in All the Year Round on 2 July.

[For passage illustrated, see below.]

Scanned image by Philip V. Allingham; text by PVA and George P. Landow.

[You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned it and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

The illustration appears here by courtesy of the E. J. Pratt Fine Arts Library, University of Toronto, and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia.

Passage Illustrated

Lighter and lighter, until at last the sun touched the tops of the still trees, and poured its radiance over the hill. In the glow, the water of the chateau fountain seemed to turn to blood, and the stone faces crimsoned. The carol of the birds was loud and high, and, on the weather-beaten sill of the great window of the bed-chamber of Monsieur the Marquis, one little bird sang its sweetest song with all its might. At this, the nearest stone face seemed to stare amazed, and, with open mouth and dropped under-jaw, looked awe-stricken. [Book the Second, "The Golden Thread," Chapter IX, "The Gorgon's Head," 438]

Other Illustrated Editions (1859-1910)

Related Materials

Bibliography

Allingham, Philip V. "Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Illustrated: A Critical Reassessment of Hablot Knight Browne's Accompanying Plates." Dickens Studies. 33 (2003): 109-158.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, 7 May through 3 December 1859.

_______. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, November 1859.

_______. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867. XIII.

_______. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. VIII.

_______. A Tale of Two Cities: A story of the French Revolution. Project Gutenberg e-text by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska. Release Date: 25 September 2004 [EBook #98].

Created 5 August 2007

Last modified 23 November 2025