"The Frontispiece" — "She hurriedly put her work aside," by W. H. C. Groome: initial lithograph for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (1900)

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The Frontispiece, "She hurriedly put her work aside."

W. H. C. Groome

1900

12 x 8.2 cm, framed

Lithograph

Dickens's Dombey and Son (pp. 426 + 422), facing engraved title-page.

[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 Anticipated: Florence takes Paul to Brighton's beach

"If you were in India, Floy," said Paul, after being silent for a minute, "I should — what is it that Mama did? I forget."

"Loved me!" answered Florence.

"No, no. Don’t I love you now, Floy? What is it? — Died. If you were in India, I should die, Floy."

She hurriedly put her work aside, and laid her head down on his pillow, caressing him. And so would she, she said, if he were there. He would be better soon.

"Oh! I am a great deal better now!" he answered. "I don’t mean that. I mean that I should die of being so sorry and so lonely, Floy!" [Chapter VIII, "Paul’s Further Progress, Growth and Character," 114]

Comment

The presence of an unnamed fisherman serves to establish the setting. Through his choice of subject for the frontispiece of the thick, two-volumes-in-one pocket edition Groome signals his intention to highlight the story of "Dombey and Daughter." Although he includes the iconic scene of father and son musing before the fire, Groome focuses on characters other than the dour merchant-prince.

Left: Paul's only escape from the dreary halls of the child-minder's Brighton establishment is accompanying his sister to the beach, as depicted by Fred Barnard in the 1877 Household Edition: Listening to the Sea (1877). Right: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s dual portrait of Florence with the Blimbers' dog, Diogenes: Florence Dombey (1867).

Related Material

Dombey and Son (homepage)
Phiz's 40 Illustrations for Dombey and Son (1846-48)
Felix Octavius Carr Darley's Captain Cuttle . . . too his own [watch] down from the mantel-shelf for Volume 4 of Dombey and Son, Wholesale Retail & for Exportation, 1862
Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
Fred Barnard's 61 Illustrations for Dombey and Son, 1877
Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Cards, 1910
Harry Furniss's illustrations for the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)
Harold Copping's Captain Cuttle's Bright Idea, 1924.

See also Groome's Frontispiece and the engraved title-page for Dombey and Son, Vol. I (1900)

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

Created 23 January 2021