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Caleb Plummer's Home
L. Rossi after Charles Green
1912
Lithograph
8.2 cm high x 7.5 cm wide, exclusive of frame
Tailpiece for "Chirp the First" in Dickens's The Cricket on the Hearth, The Pears' Centenary Edition, III, 53.
[Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Caleb Plummer and his Blind Daughter lived all alone by themselves, as the Story-books say — and my blessing, with yours to back it I hope, on the Story-books, for saying anything in this workaday world! — Caleb Plummer and his Blind Daughter lived all alone by themselves, in a little cracked nutshell of a wooden house, which was, in truth, no better than a pimple on the prominent red-brick nose of Gruff and Tackleton. The premises of Gruff and Tackleton were the great feature of the street; but you might have knocked down Caleb Plummer’s dwelling with a hammer or two, and carried off the pieces in a cart. ["Chirp the Second," 52]
Rossi has not provided an image consistent with Dickens's disparaging description of the interior of Caleb Plummer's hovel. With an imposing fireplace and a stately grandfather clock, Caleb's comfortable parlour resembles that of the Peerybingles' in "Chirp the First," although John and Dot possess a substantial dresser and a complete set of serviceable China in Mrs. Peerybingle Receives a Shock (45).
The short title from the "List of Illustrations" (11-12), Caleb Plummer's Home, here becomes "Caleb Plummer and his Blind Daughter lived . . . in a little cracked nutshell of a wooden house." (53). At first glance, Rossi seems to be offering another domestic hearth. However, despite the roaring coal-fire and mantlepiece full of bric-a-brac, the room has few amenities. Although Dickens does not mention this detail, Rossi has added a substantial family Bible on the parlour's wooden table, as if to imply the traditional and moral natures of the cottagers.
Left: Richard Doyle's whimsical rendition of the Plummers' hearthside labours of Chirp the Second (1845), which introduces these secondary characters after the opening scenes at the Peerybingles' cottage. Centre: John Leech's caricatural realisation of the toymakers in their workroom, Caleb at Work (1845). Right: Fred Barnard's realisation of Caleb and Bertha Plummer in their cottage parlour-cum-workroom, Caleb, Bertha, and Tackleton (1878).
E. A. Abbey's study of Bertha and her father at work on a dolls' house, "Halloo! Halloo! said Caleb. "I shall be vain presently!" (1876).
Each contains about thirty illustrations from original drawings by Charles Green, R. I. — Clement Shorter [1912]
Dickens, Charles. The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. Illustrated by John Leech, Daniel Maclise, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stanfield, and Edwin Landseer. Engraved by George Dalziel, Edward Dalziel, T. Williams, J. Thompson, R. Graves, and Joseph Swain. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846 [December 1845].
_____. The Cricket on the Hearth. Illustrated by L. Rossi. London: A & F Pears, 1912.
Created 12 April 2001
Last modified 23 May 2020