John McLenan's Sixty-four Illustrations for Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

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Introduction Title page [Dr. Manette released from his cell in the Bastille by an angel carrying keys] The figures of a horse and rider came slowly through the mist. [Mr. Lorry and waiter at The Royal George, Dover], Bk. I, Ch. 4 He felt his wrist held closer, and he stopped [The St. Antoine mob scoops up the contents of the broken cask.] "A white-haired man sat on a low bench, stooping forward and very busy, making shoes." He "scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine lees — blood." Bk. 1, Ch. 5 [Prison door with cobwebs]. Bk. 1, Ch. 6 He took her hair into his hand again, and looked closely at it. He had sunk in her arms, with his face dropped on her breast. [Tellson's Bank, London], Bk. II, Ch. 1 "You're at it again, are you?" [Attorney-General speaking in court] Bk. II, Ch. 3 The Prisoner and his Double [Sydney Carton, intoxicated and unconscious, after working on legal papers] Bk. II, Ch. 4 "The Lion and the Jackal." [Mr. Lorry with his cane escorted home in the dark by Jerry Cruncher, holding a lantern], Bk. II, Ch. 6 "Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry" [Woman praying before a large crucifix in a cemetery], Bk. II, Ch. 8 "'Killed!' shrieked the man." [bird singing on the ledge before a latticed window, presumably at the chateau of the Marquis] Bk. II, Ch. 9 "This from Jacques." [Lucie Manette at the door of the house in Soho] Bk. II, Ch. 10 "The tutor's request." [Dr. Manette, left, and Lucie, right, in the house in Soho] Two Promises [Young Jerry Cruncher is chased through a cemetery by an animated coffin] Bk. II, Ch. 14 "Mr. Cruncher's Friends" [The assassin of the Marquis is hanging above the village fountain.] "He described it as if he were there —"

[a speck in a blue cap toiled through the darkness] "And stood with his hand on the back of his wife's chair" [Lucie and Dr. Manette at the door of their house in Soho] "'See!' said the Doctor of Beauvaise, etc." [Charles Darnay and Lucie embrace] "The Auto da Fe" [Miss Pross and little Lucie in the garden] "In the name of all the angels or devils, work!" [The St. Antoine mob carries the head of Foulon through the streets of Paris on a pike] "He took out a blackened pipe." [Charles Darnay, on horseback, presumably going to aid Gabelle in France] "I know the fellow." [Charles Darnay in solitary confinement in La Force)] [Lucie and her daughter] "But such awful workers, and such awful work!" [Father and child wearing Jacobin caps play with a miniature guillotine] "I call myself the Samson of the fire-wood guillotine" [The mob] "The Citizen Evrémond, called Darnay." [Armed Jacobins in the St. Antoine wine-shop] "So you put him in his coffin." [Mr. Lorry and Jerry Cruncher, positioned as they are as the chapter begins] "The Citizen Evrémonde, called Darnay" [Dr. Manette and the St. Evrémonde brothers at their coach] "I mark this cross of blood upon him, as a sign that I do it" [In Mr. Lorry's rooms in Paris] "I swear to you, like Evrémonde!" Bk. II, Ch. 11 [In Darnay's cell in La Force Prison, Paris] "Write exactly as I speak." [A Jacobin holds up the severed head of a victim.] Bk. III, Ch. 14 "Like the soul of the furious woman whose body lay lifeless on the ground" [Three Jacobin women knit before the guillotine] "The two stand in the fast-thinning throng of victims," etc. John McLenan's Thirty-One Headnote Vignettes for A Tale of Two Cities in Harper's Weekly (7 May — 3 December 1859)

Scanned images and texts by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these images 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.]

The serial illustrations appear here courtesy of the E. J. Pratt Fine Arts Library, University of Toronto; the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

Related Material

• John McLenan's Thirty-One Headnote Vignettes for A Tale of Two Cities in Harper's Weekly (7 May — 3 December 1859)
• Hablot Knight Browne's (Phiz's) Monthly Serial Illustrations (June-December 1859)
• McLenan's and Phiz's Illustrations for A Tale of Two Cities (1859): A Correspondence?
• Images of the French Revolution from Various Editions of A Tale of Two Cities (1859-1910)
• Illustrations by Sol Eytinge, Jr., for The Diamond Edition (1867)
• Fred Barnard's Twenty-five Household Edition Illustrations (1874)
• A. A. Dixon's Illustrations for The Collins Pocket Edition (1905)
• Illustrations by Harry Furniss for The Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

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

Dickens, Charles. The Letters of Charles Dickens. Ed. Madeline House, Graham Storey, and Kathleen Tillotson. Oxford: Clarendon, 1965. Vol. 9 (1859-1861).

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. All the Year Round. 30 April through 26 November 1859.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Vol. III (7 May through 3 December 1859: 35 weekly numbers).

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

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by John McLenan (33 illustrations). Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, 1859. 2 vols.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867. Vol. XIII.

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

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by A. A. Dixon. London: Collins, 1905.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities, American Notes, and Pictures from Italy. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. XIII.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. With illustrations by John McLenan and Rowland Wheelwright. Orinda, Cal.: Sea Wolf Press, 2021.

Sanders, Andrew. A Companion to "A Tale of Two Cities." London: Unwin Hyman, 1988.

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Last updated last modified 17 November 2025