"Miss Trotwood and Mr. Dick" — seventh illustration by Sol Eytinge, Jr., for the Diamond Edition (1867)

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Miss Trotwood and Mr. Dick

Sol Eytinge

Wood engraving

10 high x 7.6 cm wide (4 by 3 inches), vignetted, facing p. 115.

Seventh full-page Illustration for Dickens's David Copperfield in the Ticknor and Fields (Boston), 1867, Diamond Edition. See below for commentary. [Mouse over the text for links.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Commentary

The seventh illustration makes visual allusion to Phiz's original conception of the slightly insane but utterly benign Mr. Dick, but offers a Betsey Trotwood who is not a mere caricature. Both figures are realistically modelled, but Eytinge has included the object that David consistently identifies with the well-meaning but muddled Mr. Dick, his magnificent kite:

"What do you think of that for a kite?" he said.

I answered that it was a beautiful one. I should think it must have been as much as seven feet high.

"I made it. We'll go and fly it, you and I," said Mr. Dick. . . . .

His face was so very mild and pleasant, and had something so reverend in it, though it was hale and hearty, that I was not sure but that he was having a good-humored jest with me. [Ch. 15, "My Aunt Makes up Her Mind about Me," p. 115]

Only after this dialogue does David descend to the ground floor of his aunt's cottage and discuss her companion's gentle lunacy, which she charitably construes as eccentricity rather than madness. Thus, David acquires yet another unconventional but quite functional family and a new start in life.

Related Resources

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield, illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Centenary Edition. London & New York: Chapman & Hall, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911 [rpt. from 1850]. 2 vols.

_______. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. V.

Created 16 January 2011

Last modified 11 July 2022