"Lecturing on Capital" — fifth wood-engraving by Marcus Stone (1862)

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Lecturing on Capital

Marcus Stone

1862

Wood engraving

5 ⅛ by 3 7/16 inches (13.1 cm by 8.8 cm)

"Then the times comes," said Herbert, "when you see your opening. And you go in, and you swoop upon it, and you make your capital, and then there you are! When you have once made your capital, you have nothing to do but employ it."

Dickens's Great Expectations, Garnett edition, facing p. 212 in the Illustrated Library Edition.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: The Optimistic Herbert Pocket, Fledgling Capitalist

We were very gay and sociable, and I asked him, in the course of conversation, what he was? He replied, “A capitalist, — an Insurer of Ships.” I suppose he saw me glancing about the room in search of some tokens of Shipping, or capital, for he added, “In the City.”

I had grand ideas of the wealth and importance of Insurers of Ships in the City, and I began to think with awe of having laid a young Insurer on his back, blackened his enterprising eye, and cut his responsible head open. But again there came upon me, for my relief, that odd impression that Herbert Pocket would never be very successful or rich.

“I shall not rest satisfied with merely employing my capital in insuring ships. I shall buy up some good Life Assurance shares, and cut into the Direction. I shall also do a little in the mining way. None of these things will interfere with my chartering a few thousand tons on my own account. I think I shall trade,” said he, leaning back in his chair, “to the East Indies, for silks, shawls, spices, dyes, drugs, and precious woods. It’s an interesting trade.”

“And the profits are large?” said I.

“Tremendous!” said he.

I wavered again, and began to think here were greater expectations than my own. [Chapter XXII, 212]

Commentary: Flashbacks and Economic Satire

In one of his rare appearances in a 19th c. program of illustration for the novel, Herbert Pocket provides Pip with considerable background information about Miss Havisham, her half-brother (Arthur), and her adopted daughter, Estella. To complete the chapter, Dickens gives Herbert, a good-natured dreamer, a speech about the procedures for becoming a shipping magnate, a commercial dealer in exotic imported goods, and a successful capitalist. All that Herbert needs to make his dreams come true is startup investment capital. Perhaps this optimistic monologue about the triumph of Victorian mercantilism motivates Pip to sponsor his best friend (formerly "the fighting boy" of Satis House) for a partnership in Clarriker and Company.

Stone makes Herbert a nondescript young man in this, his only appearance in the series of ten wood-engravings for the 1862 Illustrated Library Edition. Other illustrators, such as F. A. Fraser in the Household Edition (1876) and Harry Furniss in the Charles Dickens Library Edition, seem to have been reluctant to depict Herbert, partly because (perhaps) the reader might confuse him with Pip.

Three Versions of the Nondescript Herbert Pocket: 1861, 1876, and 1910

Left: John Mclenan's only scene involving Pip's best friend from the original American serial run in Haper's weekly: "Look here," said Herbert (8 June 1861). Centre: F. A. Fraser's depiction of Herbert and Pip entertaining an awkward Joe at their tea-table: Do you take tea, or coffee, Mr. Gargery? (1876). Right: Harry Furniss's depiction of Wopsle's (Waldengarver's) chaotic backstage cubbyhole at a minor theatre:Pip enters Mr. Wopsle's Dressing-Room, accompanied by Herbert, one of Herbert's rare appearances in the illustrations of the novel (1910).

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 (2 plates)
Sol Eytinge, Jr. (8 wood engravings)
John McLenan (40 wood engravings)
F. A. Fraser in the Household Edition (1876) (30 wood-engravings)
Frederic W. Pailthorpe (21 lithographs)
Harry Furniss (28 plates)
Charles Green (10 lithographs)

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.

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 Letters of Charles Dickens. Ed. Madeline House, Graham Storey, and Kathleen Tillotson. Oxford: Clarendon, 1965. Vol. 9 (1859-1861).

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

Dickens, Charles. ("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.

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Il. Marcus Stone. The Illustrated Library Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1862. Rpt. in The Nonesuch Dickens, Great Expectations and Hard Times. London: Nonesuch, 1937; Overlook and Worth Presses, 2005.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Il. Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867.

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Volume 6 of the Household Edition. Il. F. A. Fraser. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876.

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. The Gadshill Edition. Il. Charles Green. London: Chapman and Hall, 1897-1908.

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. "With 28 Original Plates by Harry Furniss." Volume 14 of the Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Co., 1910.

McLenan, John, il. Charles Dickens's Great Expectations [the First American Edition]. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Vols. IV: 740 through V: 495 (24 November 1860-3 August 1861). Rpt. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, 1861.

Rosenberg, Edgar (ed.). "Launching Great Expectations." Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. Pp. 389-423.

Stein, Robert A. "Dickens and Illustration." The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens. Ed. John O. Jordan. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2001. 167-188.

Watt, Alan S. "Why Wasn't Great Expectations Illustrated?" The Dickens Magazine Series 1, Issue 2. Haslemere, England: Euromed Communications, 2001: 8-9.

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

Created 29 December 2004

Updated 1 November 2021