Charles Edmund Brock (1870-1938)

The brother of well-known fin de siècle illustrator Henry Matthew Brock (illustrator of the Gresham Imperial edition volume of Great Expectations, 1901-3), Charles Edmund Brock was a widely published English line artist and book illustrator, who signed his work "C. E. Brock."Noted for the quality of his line drawings in the manner of the early Victorian illustrators, he was the eldest of four artist brothers, sons of a specialist reader in oriental languages for Cambridge University Press. With his better known brother, H. M., Charles Edward, and Richard Brock shared a studio, in which they gathered eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artefacts and curios to use in their drawings, paintings, and book illustrations. Having trained in the studio of Henry Wiles, they began careers in the early 1890s at Macmillan. Like his brother, E. C. Brock contributed to Punch, but Charles Edmund was also a recognized painter in oils. Moreover, he illustrated Dickens's Christmas Books — A Christmas Carol, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Haunted Man, and The Battle of Life, as well as an edition of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, various novels by Jane Austen such as Emma (1898), Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Oliver Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, Thomas Hood's poems, Lamb's essays, volumes of Greek and Norse myths, and the Bible.

A Reassessment of the Book Illustrations of Charles Edmund Brook (by Simon Cooke)

A Christmas Carol (1905)

Although John Leech, Dickens's first Carol illustrator, did not make much of the Cratchits, depicting Bob just once, in the tailpiece, later illustrators in general and Brock in particular have recognized the importance of Cratchit family values in this tale of redemption and social reintegration. Here, Brock depicts Mrs. Cratchit's serving her culinary triumph, the wonderful Christmas pudding, to the manifold compliments of her adoring family. Although his visualisations are often congruent with those of Leech, Brock consistently depicts the characters in a naturalistic rather than caricatural vein, and emphasizes the presence of children in five of the sixteen plates that graph Scrooge's spiritual and social redemption.

The Cricket on the Hearth

Charles Edmund Brock (artist) and Alexander H. Williamson (designer)

Other Illustrations for the first two Christmas Books (1843-1915)

Jane Austen's Emma in Two Volumes (1906)

He had been at pains of consulting Mr. Perry, the apothecary, on the subject. (page 22) [Frontispiece, C. E. Brock, 1898]
"I planned the match from that hour — dear papa, you cannot think that I shall leave off matchmaking." (Page 12, C. E. Brock, 1898)
He called for a few moments, just to leave a piece of paper on the table. (Page 98, C. E. Brock, 1898)
"You are extremely kind," replied Miss Bates, highly gratified. (Page 218, C. E. Brock, 1898)
I stood for a minute, feeling dreadfully, you know. (Page 250, C. E. Brock, 1898)
With mixed feelings she seated herself at a little distance from the members around the instrument. (Page 321, C. E. Brock, 1898)
"How d'ye do? How d'ye do? Very well I thank you." (page 7) [Frontispiece, Vol. II]
Mrs. Elton was evidently wanting to be complimented herself — and it was, "How do you like my gown?" (Page 122, Vol. 2, C. E. Brock, 1898)
Taking out her purse, she gave them a shilling, and begged them not to want more. (Page 136, C. E. Brock, 1898)
"Most beloved Emma — tell me at once, say, 'No' if it is to be said." (Page 279, C. E. Brock, 1898)
I was mad enough, however, to resent. I doubted her affection." (Page 295, C. E. Brock, 1898)
Poor man! — it was at first a considerable shock to him. (Page 332, C. E. Brock, 1898)

Illustrations for Works by Other Authors

Related Material: Other Illustrations for Dickens's first two Christmas Books (1843-1915)

Scanned images and text for Dickens and Austen illustrations by Philip V. Allingham. Scanned images and text for other illustrations by Simon Cooke. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose, as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Austen, Jane. Emma. Ed. R. Brimley Johnson. With coloured illustrations by C. E. and H. M. Brock. The Novels and Letters of Jane Austen. New York & Philadelphia: Frank S. Holby, 1906. 2 vols.

"Belle Letters." The Westminster Review 140 (July–December 1893): 342–346.

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol and The Cricket on the Hearth. Illustrated by C. E. [Charles Edmund] Brock. London: J. M. Dent, 1905; New York: Dutton, rpt., 1963.

Hodnett, Edward. Five Centuries of English Book Illustration. Aldershot: Scolar, 1988.

Houfe, Simon. The Dictionary of Nineteenth Century British Book Illustrators. Woodbridge: The Antique Collectors’ Club, 1978; revd. ed., 1996.

Muir, Percy. Victorian Illustrated Books. London: Batsford, 1971; rev. ed. 1985.

Created 21 May 2015

Last modified 1 April 2026