The Runaway Couple: headpiece for Children's Stories from Dickens, Chapter Two (1924), page 17 — Harold Copping's study of the charming boy, Harry Walmers, and his runaway "bride," Miss Norah. The children behaving like young adults running off to Gretna Green in Scotland originally appeared in Dickens's Christmas story The Hollytree Inn in the 1855 extra Christmas number of Household Words. Children's stories from Dickens: line-drawing in lithograph, 3 by 4 ¾ inches (7.3 x 11.9 cm), vignetted. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: The Boots introduces us to Harry and Norah, Aged 8 and 7
"So I goes upstairs, and there I finds Master Harry on an e-normous sofa a-drying the eyes of Miss Norah with his pocket handkercher. Their little legs was entirely off the ground, of course, and it really is not possible to express how small them children looked. ["The Runaway Couple" in Children's Stories from Dickens, 13]
Commentary: Children behaving like Romantic Young Adults
Right: Harry French's The Holly Tree Inn in the Library Edition. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
The children have run north, through Yorkshire, in order to elope. The physical setting might be any inn anywhere in England, but it is in fact the backdrop for five framed tales, The Holly-tree Inn on a Yorkshire moor, perhaps based on the New Inn at Greta Bridge. The second story, like the fifth, was by Dickens, who adopted the persona of the inn's boots, Cobbs, to narrate the story of the runaway couple. Reprinted as Christmas Stories the selections were entitled "The Holly Tree: Three Branches." This story of Harry and Norah was the only one with any appeal for child readers. Since that weekly Dickens journal of the 1850s was not illustrated, Copping would have had only two resources: Christmas Stories illustrated by E. A. Abbey in the American Household Edition (1876) and Christmas Stories illustrated by Edward Dalziel in the British Household Edition (1877). In fact, these must have proven scant resources as Abbey offers only one relevant plate, and Dalziel none.
Further Illustrations of Harry and Norah, 1876-1910
Left: Harry Furniss's version of the arrival of Norah and Harry at the inn: Arrivals at The Holly Tree (1910) Centre: E. A. Abbey's sole "Holly-Tree Inn" illustration in Christmas Stories: "There's Love Lane". Right: Furniss's depiction of the Boots and the children in the garden: An Engagement (1910) in the tenth volume of the Charles Dickens Library Edition.
Related Material, Including Other Depictions of Harry, Norah, and Cobbs (1876-1911)
Scanned image and text 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 photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File (Checkmark), 1998.
Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories. Illustrated by E. A. Abbey. 19 vols. The Household Edition. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1876. Vol. 3.
Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories from "Household Words" and "All the Year Round." Illustrated by Edward Dalziel. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877, rpt. 1892, 1910. Vol. 21.
Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories from "Household Words" and "All the Year Round." Illustrated by Fred Walker, F. A. Fraser, Harry French, E. G. Dalziel, J. Manhony, Townley Green, and Charles Green. The Centenary Edition. 36 vols. London: Chapman & Hall; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911.
Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 16.
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.
Dickens, Mary Angela [Charles Dickens' grand-daughter]. Dickens' Dream Children. London, Paris, New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1924.
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 9 October 2023