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Mr. Pickwick and the Cabman
Harry Furniss
1910
14.5 cm x 9.6 cm, vignetted
Fourth illustration for Dickens's Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, facing II, 12.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"Would anybody believe," continued the cab–driver,appealing to the crowd," would anybody believe as an informer 'ud go about in a man's cab, not only takin' down his number, but ev'ry word he says into the bargain' (a light flashed upon Mr.Pickwick — it was the note–book).
"Did he though?" inquired another cabman.
"Yes, did he," replied the first; "and then arteraggerawatin' me to assault him, gets three witnesses here to prove it. But I'll give it him, if I've six months for it. Come on!" and the cabman dashed his hat upon the ground, with a reckless disregard of his own private property, and knocked Mr. Pickwick's spectacles off, and followed up the attack with a blow on Mr. Pickwick's nose, and another on Mr. Pickwick's chest, and a third in Mr. Snodgrass's eye, and a fourth, by way of variety, in Mr.Tupman's waistcoat, and then danced into the road, and then back again to the pavement,and finally dashed the whole temporary supply of breath out of Mr. Winkle's body; and all in half-a-dozen seconds. [Chapter II, "The First Day's Journey, and the First Evening's Adventures; with their Consequences," page 8]
Working in a continuous visual tradition of nearly seventy-five years, Furniss enjoyed a considerable advantage over Dickens's original illustrator, the ill-fated Robert Seymour because previous illustrators had provided him with models of the paranoid cabdriver who mistakes Pickwick for a police spy. Likely having studied the versions by Seymour and Phiz, Furniss has made his crowd far more dynamic as spectators, and has individualised them through their postures and reactions to the unfolding conflict. But has he surpassed his sources in using the street scene to subtly introduce the Pickwickians' devious adversary, the out-of-work actor and confidence-man Alfred Jingle? Seymour did not identify him (although he is undoubtedly present), but in his revision Phiz has brought Jingle well forward as he attempts to intervene on Pickwick's behalf.
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Above: Robert Seymour's original steel-engraving, The Pugnacious Cabman, in the April 1836 number compared to the Furniss illustration. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Despite its official title, "The Pugnacious Cabman," the second Seymour illustration (April 1836) should be subtitled "The First Appearance of Alfred Jingle." What is odd about Seymour's construction of the scene in the street as a mob gathers to watch the altercation between Pickwick and his henchmen on the one hand and the indignant cab-driver on the other is that the viewer cannot readily determine which of the many figures is that of Alfred Jingle, whom the text describes as wearing a distinctive green overcoat. Since this scene introduces the reader to this significant and recurring character, one would expect that Seymour would have granted him much greater prominence. Jingle's is one of those Dickens characters readily identifiable by his distinctive voice, principally by his cynical tone and staccato syntax, but Seymour has failed to find a visual equivalent for that unique voice. By changing the orientation of the original Seymour plate, Phiz in his 1874 Household Edition illustration Phiz moved the focus from a crowded street scene to the conflict between the surly cab-driver, and simultaneously introduced Jingle (right). The Furniss illustration returns to the orientation of the 1836 illustration in order to emphasize the context of the altercation; however, Furniss also but places the ostentatiously dressed actor immediately behind Pickwick, as large a figure as Pickwick and the cab-driver, but much smaller than the three figures in the foreground, the pair of coachmen (identifiable by their long dusters and the horse-whip) and the boy straddling the hitching-post. Furniss thus positions his viewers on the edge of the crowd, incorporating them into the dramatic action. The three supporters of Pickwick (Winkle, Tupman, and Snodgrass) are immediately behind the cabman, but Furniss can distinguish only Winkle by a detail in his clothing (his sporting leggings). Furniss focusses on Jingle's easy affability as he comes forward to assist Pickwick, who has just had his spectacles knocked off by his antagonist. Moreover, Furniss contrasts the realistic features of the other male principals with the distorted, almost Neanderthal visage of the irate cab-driver as if to suggest the atavistic forces that he embodies.
Undoubtedly Furniss's immediate source and his chief influence would have been Phiz's 1874 Household Edition composite woodblock engraving. Since this medium does not facilitate the artist's including a great deal of background detail, however, Furniss must also have studied the Seymour steel-engraving. Whereas the 1870s plate has a horse and carriage to the left, a central lamp-standard, and generalized cityscape in the background, almost like a theatrical painted scene, with figures milling about on the same plane, Furniss's lithograph exhibits a far more sophisticated depiction of the urban space. The central lamp-stadard remains, but the cabman's carriage and horse span the page, and two more carriages are crammed into the small space, upper left, as if the artist is suggesting that the fight and the crowd it has attracted are creating traffic congestion in this London square, the surrounding buildings of which Furniss merely suggests through a partially sketched in facade. The effect of the sharply drawn-in figures in the foreground and the lightly sketched in background is to draw the reader's eye to what these three characters are looking at, the centre of the page, and to to emphasize how the image realizes the dialogue that editor J. A. Hammerton has employed as a subtitle: "But I'll give it him, if I've six months for it. Come on!" and the cabman dashed his hat upon the ground, with a reckless disregard of his own private property, and knocked Mr. Pickwick's spectacles off — Pickwick, 8.
Left: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s dual character study of the affable valet and his retired employer, Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller. Centre: Clayton J. Clarke's Player's Cigarette Card No. 16, Mr. Pickwick (1910). Right: Kyd's extra illustration, Mr. Pickwick. (circa 1910)
Above: Phiz's revision of the original Seymour steel-engraving, an 1874 wood-engraving which focusses on Pickwick, the cabman, and Jingle — and minimizes the backdrop: "Come on," said the cab-driver, sparring away like clockwork. "Come on — all four on you."
Clarke, Clayton J. ('Kyd'). The Characters of Charles Dickens portrayed in a series of original watercolours by "Kyd." London, Paris, and New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, n. d.
Clarke, Clayton J. ('Kyd'). "Mr. Pickwick." John Player Cigarette Cards. Nottingham, 1910. No. 16.
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark and Facts On File, 1999.
Dickens, Charles. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Authentic Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1901 [rpt. of the 1868 volume, based on the 30 May 1857 volume].
_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Frontispieces by Felix Octavius Carr Darley and Sir John Gilbert. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1863. 4 vols.
_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. 14 vols.
_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 16 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 4.
_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 5.
_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.
Created 6 July 2019
Last modified 4 February 2020