Titlepage for "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" by Fred Barnard

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Title-page vignette: Master Humphrey and his Clock

Fred Barnard

1879

Wood-engraving

7.6 cm high by 6.1 cm wide, vignetted

The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Reprinted Pieces. The Household Edition. XX, facing frontispiece.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated

And now shall I tell how that my old servant, besides giving us note of time, and ticking cheerful encouragement of our proceedings, lends its name to our society, which for its punctuality and my love is christened "Master Humphrey’s Clock"? Now shall I tell how that in the bottom of the old dark closet, where the steady pendulum throbs and beats with healthy action, though the pulse of him who made it stood still long ago, and never moved again, there are piles of dusty papers constantly placed there by our hands, that we may link our enjoyments with my old friend, and draw means to beguile time from the heart of time itself? Shall I, or can I, tell with what a secret pride I open this repository when we meet at night, and still find new store of pleasure in my dear old Clock?

Friend and companion of my solitude! mine is not a selfish love; I would not keep your merits to myself, but disperse something of pleasant association with your image through the whole wide world; I would have men couple with your name cheerful and healthy thoughts; I would have them believe that you keep true and honest time; and how it would gladden me to know that they recognised some hearty English work in Master Humphrey’s clock! ["Master Humphrey, from His Clock-case in the Chimney Corner," 4 April 1840]

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Reprinted Pieces. Charles Dickens. With Illustrations by Sir Luke Fildes, R. A., E. G. Dalziel, and F. Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1879, XX.

Created 9 May 2005

Last modified 15 May 2020