Initial-letter Vignette "A" (Lord Culduff and Mr. Cutbill breakfasting at the shebeen) (Vol. XVI, page 1) vertically-mounted, 7.5 cm high by 4.9 cm wide, signed "MEE." in the lower-left corner of the main illustration. Mary Ellen Edwards, second thumbnail vignette illustration for Charles Lever's The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly in the Cornhill Magazine (July 1867), Chapters VI-IX ("Up in the Mountains" through "Over the Fire.") in Vol. 16: pages 1 through 23 (24 pages including unpaged illustration in instalment). The wood-engraver responsible for this illustration was Joseph Swain (1820-1909), noted for his engravings of Sir John Tenniel's cartoons in Punch. [Click on the image to enlarge it; mouse over links.]
This initial-letter vignette illustrates the passage over the page:
A number of papers, plans, and drawings littered the breakfast table at which they were seated, and one of these, representing the little promontory of arid rock, tastefully colored and converted into a handsome pier, with flights of steps descending to the water, and massive cranes swinging bulky masses of merchandise into tall-masted ships, was just then beneath his Lordship's double eyeglass.
“Where may all this be, Cutbill? is it Irish?” asked he.
“It is to be out yonder, my Lord,” said he, pointing through the little window to the rugged line of rocks, over which the sea was breaking in measured rhythm.
“You don't mean there?” said Lord Culduff, half horrified. [Vol. XVI, Chapter VI, "Up in the Mountains," 3]
Comment: Introducing the Great Man upon his Arrival in Ireland
Thus, the opening vignette leads the reader immediately into Lever's text, but does not concern the landscape of the region; rather, Edwards illustrates the scene in Chapter VI of the novella, "Up in the Mountains," in which the "great man" arrives at a fishing village some eighteen miles from the scene of the main action, at The Castello. The illustrator contrasts his reception by the Bramleighs with his actual mission. She emphasizes that the purpose of the visit is to exploit the region's natural resources, and that the politically-connected English peer is motivated by a strong desire to repair his shattered fortunes. Thus, instead of consuming breakfast in a leisurely manner as one might expect a peer would, he pours over construction plans and a prospectus for the harbour project with his engineer and business agent, Cutbill.
Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [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
Lever, Charles. The Bramleighs of Bishop’s Folly. The Cornhill Magazine 15 (June, 1867): pp. 640-664, and (July-December 1867): 1-666. Rpt. London: Chapman & Hall, 1872. Illustrated by M. E. Edwards; engraved by Joseph Swain.
Stevenson, Lionel. "Chapter XVI: Exile on the Adriatic, 1867-1872." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 277-296.
Created 25 August 2023