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Mr. Ralph Nickleby makes the acquaintance of his Relations
Harry Furniss
1910
14.2 x 9.5 cm, vignetted
"Put my hat down," said Ralph to his nephew. "Well, ma'am, how do you do? You must bear up against sorrow, ma’am; I always do," he said to Mrs. Nickleby (23).
Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, facing IV, 16.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Climbing up another perpendicular flight, composed with great mechanical ingenuity of nothing but corner stairs, Mr. Ralph Nickleby stopped to take breath on the landing, when he was overtaken by the handmaid, whom the politeness of Miss La Creevy had dispatched to announce him, and who had apparently been making a variety of unsuccessful attempts, since their last interview, to wipe her dirty face clean, upon an apron much dirtier.
"What name?" said the girl.
"Nickleby," replied Ralph.
"Oh! Mrs. Nickleby," said the girl, throwing open the door, "here’s Mr Nickleby."
A lady in deep mourning rose as Mr. Ralph Nickleby entered, but appeared incapable of advancing to meet him, and leant upon the arm of a slight but very beautiful girl of about seventeen, who had been sitting by her. A youth, who appeared a year or two older, stepped forward and saluted Ralph as his uncle.
"Oh," growled Ralph, with an ill-favoured frown, "you are Nicholas, I suppose?"
"That is my name, sir," replied the youth.
"Put my hat down," said Ralph, imperiously. "Well, ma’am, how do you do? You must bear up against sorrow, ma’am; I always do."
"Mine was no common loss!" said Mrs. Nickleby, applying her handkerchief to her eyes.
"It was no uncommon loss, ma’am," returned Ralph, as he coolly unbuttoned his spencer. "Husbands die every day, ma’am, and wives too.""And brothers also, sir," said Nicholas, with a glance of indignation.
"Yes, sir, and puppies, and pug-dogs likewise," replied his uncle, taking a chair. "You didn’t mention in your letter what my brother’s complaint was, ma’am." [Chapter III, "Mr. Ralph Nickleby receives Sad Tidings of his Brother, but bears up nobly against the Intelligence communicated to him. The Reader is informed how he liked Nicholas, who is herein introduced, and how kindly he proposed to make his Fortune at once," 24]
Left: Mr. Ralph Nickleby's First Visit to His Poor Relations (April 1838), in which Phiz introduces the villain of the prose melodrama and the picaresque hero. Right: Fred Barnard's British Household Edition illustration of the confrontation between Nicholas and his uncle: The uncle and nephew looked at each other for some seconds without speaking (1875).
Barnard, J. "Fred" (illustrator). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-eight illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872. I.
__________. Nicholas Nickleby. With 39 illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). London: Chapman & Hall, 1839.
__________. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 4.
__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.
Created 19 April 2021