"Henrietta Petowker" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s fifth illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1867)

[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Illustration—> Sol Eytinge, Jr. —> Nicholas Nickleby —> Charles Dickens —> Next]

Henrietta Petowker

Sol Eytinge, Jr.

1867

Wood-engraving

9.9 x 7.5 cm (framed)

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby (Diamond Edition), facing IV, 96.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

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 person who scanned the image, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: An Over-the-Top Actress

passage Illustrated: The Drury Lane Actress

"Oh dear, Mrs. Kenwigs," said Miss Petowker, "while Mr. Noggs is making that punch to drink happy returns in, do let Morleena go through that figure dance before Mr. Lillyvick."

"No, no, my dear," replied Mrs. Kenwigs, "it will only worry my uncle."

"It can’t worry him, I am sure,’ said Miss Petowker. "You will be very much pleased, won’t you, sir?"

"That I am sure I shall’ replied the collector, glancing at the punch-mixer.

"Well then, I’ll tell you what,’ said Mrs. Kenwigs, ‘Morleena shall do the steps, if uncle can persuade Miss Petowker to recite us the Blood-Drinker’s Burial, afterwards."

"There was a great clapping of hands and stamping of feet, at this proposition; the subject whereof, gently inclined her head several times, in acknowledgment of the reception.

"You know,’ said Miss Petowker, reproachfully, ‘that I dislike doing anything professional in private parties."

"Oh, but not here!’ said Mrs. Kenwigs. ‘We are all so very friendly and pleasant, that you might as well be going through it in your own room; besides, the occasion —"

"I can’t resist that," interrupted Miss Petowker; "anything in my humble power I shall be delighted to do."

Mrs. Kenwigs and Miss Petowker had arranged a small programme of the entertainments between them, of which this was the prescribed order, but they had settled to have a little pressing on both sides, because it looked more natural. The company being all ready, Miss Petowker hummed a tune, and Morleena danced a dance; having previously had the soles of her shoes chalked, with as much care as if she were going on the tight-rope. It was a very beautiful figure, comprising a great deal of work for the arms, and was received with unbounded applause. [Chapter XIV, "Having the Misfortune to treat of none but Common People, is necessarily of a Mean and Vulgar Character," 96]

Commentary: Henrietta Petowker, Late of Drury Lane

At first, she is merely a small-time, bit-part-playing Drury Lane actress with a flair for the melodramatic — not to say "blood-curdling." But then Miss Petowker transfers from The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London, to Crummles' provincial touring company, she becomes a headliner. Thus, a minor metropolitan actress with a prestigious, 'licensed' company becomes a star with the significantly less prestigious provincial troupe led by actor-manager Vincent Crummles. She marries Mrs. Kenwigs's wealthy uncle, Mr. Lillyvick, a London water-rate collector, after meeting him at the Kenwigses' wedding anniversary party. However, when leaves Lillyvick for a half-pay military officer, within a few months, Lillyvick cuts her out of his will, and settles his estate on the Kenwigses' children.

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.

_______. Nicholas Nickleby.Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. IV.

_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Ed. Andrew Lang. Illustrated by 'Phiz' (Hablot Knight Browne). The Gadshill Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1897. 2 vols.

_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 9.

Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter 12: Nicholas Nickleby." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Vol. 17, 147-170.

Kitton, Frederic George. Dickens andHis Illustrators: Cruikshank, Seymour, Buss, "Phiz," Cattermole, Leech, Doyle, Stanfield, Maclise, Tenniel, Frank Stone, Landseer, Palmer,Topham, Marcus Stone, and Luke Fildes. Amsterdam: S. Emmering,1972. Re-print of the London 1899 edition.

Lester Valerie Browne. Chapter 8., "Travels with Boz." Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004. 58-69.

Loomis, Rick. First American Editions of Charles Dickens: The Callinescu Collection, Part 1. Yarmouth, ME: Sumner & Stillman, 2010.

Schlicke, Paul, ed. The Oxford Reader'sCompanion to Dickens. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1999.

Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. 14-50.

Vann, J. Don. "Nicholas Nickleby." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1985. 63.

Winter, William. "Charles Dickens" and "Sol Eytinge." Old Friends: Being Literary Recollections of Other Days. New York: Moffat, Yard, & Co., 1909. Pp. 181-202, 317-319.

Last modified 18 April 2021