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This poor, friendless boy trudges off to London
Harold Copping
1893, rpt. 1924
Photographic reproduction of a line drawing
17.5 cm by 12.7 cm (7 by 4 ⅞ inches), vignetted
From Children's Stories from Dickens, p. 25.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Along this same footpath Oliver well remembered he had trotted beside Mr. Bumble, the Beadle. His heart beat quickly when he bethought himself of this, and he half resolved to turn back. He had come a long way, though, and should lose a great deal of time by doing so. Besides, it was so early that there was very little fear of his being seen, so he walked on. . . . .
So this poor, friendless boy trudged off to London. He had no idea what he was going to do, where he was going to sleep, or when he would have his next meal; all he wanted was to get away from the cruel, unhappy life he had been leading. [Children's Stories from Dickens, pp. 28-29]
Possibly because Children's Stories from Dickens is directed principally at child-readers, the artist has avoided the anguish of Oliver's parting from his only friend, Little Dick. And perhaps Victorian sentimentality was becoming less fashionable. Whatever the reason, Copping has passed over Oliver's parting, and focuses on Oliver as a wayfarer on the Great North Road to London. Copping's solitary walker seems oblivious to the dangers and uncertainties of the journey, so elated is he to be escaping the workhouse and the undertaker's. By the time we reach Oliver's decision to abandon Mudfog in the letterpress, we readers have been introduced to the image of Mr. Brownlow (p. 27), perusing the wares at a bookseller's stall outside the shop, the ideal mark for Oliver's pickpocket associates.
Left: Sol Eytinge, Junior's Oliver and Little Dick in the Diamond Edition (1867). Centre: James Mahoney's Household Edition illustration Oliver at the Milestone (Title-page vignette, 1871). Right: F. W. Pailthorpe's study of Oliver's tearful farewell with Little Dick at the gate: "Good b'ye, dear! God bless you!" (1886). [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Left: Harry Furniss's Oliver's Flight to London (1910). Right: James Mahoney's Household Edition illustration of Oliver's fateful meeting with the Artful Dodger, "Hullo, My Covey! What's the Row?" (18710). [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Dickens, Charles. The Adventures of Oliver Twist. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Bradbury and Evans; Chapman and Hall, 1846.
Dickens, Mary Angela, Percy Fitzgerald, Captain Edric Vredenburg, and Others. Illustrated by Harold Copping with eleven coloured lithographs. Children's Stories from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1893.
Matz, B. W., and Kate Perugini; illustrated by Harold Copping. Character Sketches from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1924. Copy in the Paterson Library, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Created 22 September 2023