John McLenan's "Harper's Weekly" Illustrations of "Great Expectations" (1860-61)

Introduction to the plates
Plate One [The gibbet on the marshes] 24 Nov. 1860, p. 740
Plate Two: "You young dog!" said the man, licking his lips at me, "What fat cheeks you ha' got!"
Plate Three: "Pip, old chap! You'll do yourself a mischief. It'll stick somewhere. You can't have chawed it, Pip."
Plate Four: "You're not a false imp? You brought no one with you?"
Plate Five: "But he was down on the rank wet grass, filing at his iron like a madman." 1 Dec. 1860, p. 765
Plate Six: "Oh, Un-cle Pum-ble-chook! This is kind!"
Plate Seven [Three soldiers, carrying torches, are leading Magwitch, centre, away in chains.] 8 Dec. 1860, p. 773
Plate Eight: "Then Joe began to hammer and clink, hammer and clink."
Plate Nine: [Mrs. Joe roughly washes and dries Pip's face] 15 Dec. 1860, p. 789
Plate Ten: "At such times as your sister is on the ram-page, Pip."
Plate Eleven: "Who is it?" said the lady at the table. "Pip, Ma'am." 22 Dec. 1860, p. 804
Plate Twelve: "Leave this lad to me, Ma'am; leave this lad to me." 29 Dec. 1860, p. 821
Plate Thirteen: "It's a great cake. A bride-cake. Mine!" 5 January 1861, p. 5
Plate Fourteen: "Which I meantersay, Pip." 12 January 1861, p. 21.

Note

Harper's

Plate Fifteen [Pip and Biddy sitting on a bank in the Marshes]. 2 February 1861, p. 69
Plate Sixteen: "Hulloa!" he growled; "Where are you two going?"" [Orlick, Pip, and Biddy] 2 February 1861, p. 69
Plate Seventeen: [Scene: Saturday night at the Three Jolly Bargemen] 9 February 1861, p. 85
Plate Eighteen: "Pip's a gentleman of fortune, then," said Joe, "and God bless him in it!" 9 February 1861, p. 85
Plate Nineteen [Pip and Joe on the marshes] 16 February 1861, p. 101
Plate Twenty: "And may I — May I —?" 16 February 1861, p. 101
Plate Twenty-one: "You infernal scoundrel, how dare you tell me that?" 23 February 1861, p. 117
Plate Twenty-two: "I hope your Mama is quite well?" 2 March 1861, p. 133
Plate Twenty-three: "This chap murdered his master." 9 March 1861, p. 149
Plate Twenty-four: "Molly, let them see both your wrists. Show them. Come!" 13 March 1861, p. 173
Plate Twenty-five: "Pip, how are you, Pip?" 13 March 1861, p. 181
Plate Twenty-six: We walked round the garden twice or thrice more, etc. 6 April 1861, p. 205
Plate Twenty-seven: "Hold me! I'm so frightened!" 6 April 1861, p. 205
Plate Twenty-eight: "If I say yes, may I kiss the cheek again?" 20 April 1861, p. 229. This serves as the title-page vignette in the 1861 volume.
Plate Twenty-nine: "Dear Joe, how are you?" 27 April 1861, p. 253
Plate Thirty: The responsible duty of making the toast was delegated to the Aged. 27 April 1861, p. 269
Plate Thirty-one: She carried a bare candle in her hand, etc. 4 May 1861, p. 286.

Note: The May 11, 18, and 25 (i. e., the twenty-fourth through twenty-sixth) instalments [covering Chapters 38 through 41] were not illustrated, perhaps because Harper's was providing extensive pictorial coverage of the Civil War, depicting camps, fortresses, and battles — e. g., Camp Curtin, Near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a Rendezvous of the Pennsylvania Volunteers. — [Sketched by Jasper Green, Esq.] on page 301 takes up three of the four columns, the fourth being the start of Chapter 38 of Great Expectations. A Civil War scene also occupies the space that might otherwise have been devoted to McLenan illustrations on p. 318 [in Chapter 18].

Plate Thirty-two: "All done, all gone!" 8 June 1861, p. 350
Plate Thirty-three: "Look here," said Herbert. 15 June 1861, p. 366
Plate Thirty-four: Let me sit listening as I would, with dread, etc. 11.5 cm wide by 12 cm high. 15 June 1861, p. 367
Plate Thirty-five: I saw her running at me, shrieking, with a whirl of fire blazing all about her, etc. 22 June 1861, p. 398
Plate Thirty-six: "Know him!" repeated the landlord. "Ever since he was no height at all." 29 June 1861, p. 414
Plate Thirty-seven: He was taken on board, and instantly manacled at the wrists and ankles. 13 July 1861, p. 446
Plate Thirty-eight: The placid look at the white ceiling came back, and passed away, and his head dropped quietly on his breast. 27 July 1861, p. 479
Plate Thirty-nine: Joe now sat down to his great work, etc. 27 July 1861, p. 479
Plate Forty: I saw the shadow of no parting from her. 3 August 1861, p. 494.

Other Artists’ Illustrations for Dickens's Great Expectations

Edward Ardizzone (2 plates selected)
H. M. Brock (8 lithographs)
J. Clayton Clarke ("Kyd") (2 lithographs from watercolours)
Felix O. C. Darley (4 photogravure plates)
Sol Eytinge, Jr. (8 wood engravings)
Marcus Stone (8 wood engravings)
Frederic W. Pailthorpe (21 coloured lithographs)
Harry Furniss (28 plates)
Charles Green (10 lithographs)

Related Material

Bibliography

Allingham, Philip V. "The Illustrations for Great Expectations in Harper's Weekly (1860-61) and in the Illustrated Library Edition (1862) — 'Reading by the Light of Illustration'." Dickens Studies Annual, Vol. 40 (2009): 113-169.

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Illustrated by John McLenan. [The First American Edition]. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Vols. IV: 740 through V: 495 (24 November 1860-3 August 1861).

______. Great Expectations. All the Year Round. Vols. IV and V. 1 December 1860 through 3 August 1861.

______. ("Boz."). Great Expectations. With thirty-four illustrations from original designs by John McLenan. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson (by agreement with Harper & Bros., New York), 1861.

______. Great Expectations. Volume 6 of the Household Edition. Illustrated by F. A. Fraser. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876.

Paroissien, David. The Companion to "Great Expectations." Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2000.

Watts, Alan S. "Why Wasn't Great Expectations Illustrated?" The Dickens Magazine. Haslemere, Surrey: Bishops Printers. Series 1, Issue 2, pp. 8-9.

Waugh, Arthur. "Charles Dickens and His Illustrators." Retrospectus and Prospectus: The Nonesuch Dickens. London: Bloomsbury, 1937, rpt. 2003. Pp. 6-52.

Created 28 November 2006

Last updated 13 June 2026