“Mr. Pickwick stepped out of the closet, and found himself in the presence of the whole establishment of Westgate House.” — Thomas Onwhyn's eleventh extra illustration for Charles Dickens's "The Pickwick Club" (30 June 1837)

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“Mr. Pickwick stepped out of the closet . . . of Westgate House.”

Thomas Onwhyn [“TO del”]

steel engraving

12.6 cm high by 11.1 cm wide (4 ⅞ by 4 ¼ inches), vignetted

Charles Dickens's The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Chapter XVI, "Too Full of Adventure to be Briefly Described," (September 1836), facing page 171.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Pickwick caught in an Embarrassing Situation — Again

An hour and a half elapsed before they came back, and when they did come, Mr. Pickwick recognised, in addition to the voice of Mr. Samuel Weller, two other voices, the tones of which struck familiarly on his ear; but whose they were, he could not for the life of him call to mind.

A very brief conversation ensued. The door was unlocked. Mr. Pickwick stepped out of the closet, and found himself in the presence of the whole establishment of Westgate House, Mr Samuel Weller, and — old Wardle, and his destined son-in-law, Mr. Trundle!

‘My dear friend,’ said Mr. Pickwick, running forward and grasping Wardle’s hand, ‘my dear friend, pray, for Heaven’s sake, explain to this lady the unfortunate and dreadful situation in which I am placed. You must have heard it from my servant; say, at all events, my dear fellow, that I am neither a robber nor a madman.’ [Chapter XVI, "Too Full of Adventure to be Briefly Described,” 171]

Commentary: Dickens's Problem with Onwhyn and His Tribe

“Mr. Pickwick stepped out of the closet, and found himself in the presence of the whole establishment of Westgate House.” Page 171.

Good as Onwhyn's modelling of the characters and the three-dimensionalism of the backdrop may be, this realisation of the scene at the girls' school underscores Dickens's bitterness about Onwhyn's productions. It does not merely realise the moment, it comments visually upon the sanctioned illustration, The Unexpected Breaking Up of the Seminary for Young Ladies (Chapter 16, September 1836). To the twenty-five-year-old author whose breakout serial novel was taking London and the provinces by storm, Onwhyn was simply a sycophant or pirate who was taking advantage of the runaway best-seller, and in the process impairing Dickens's ability to develop the narrative. After all, illustrations do not merely realise moments in the narrative; they define the characters and their relationships, and sometimes even suggest the future trajectory of the narrative. And as in this instance the choice of subject was another's, not Dickens's. For an author who liked both narrative and pictorial control, Onwhyn's four-plates-per-month (April-November 1837) must have been galling, especially towards the end of the serial run. Fortunately, most of Onwhyn's production dates from well after the serial issuing of the chapters into which the "extra" illustrations fit.

Dickens may have also been concerned about the quality of the illustration which Onwhyn produced ten months after the appearance of the serial instalment in which the book-collector would place it. Although it is technically competent, “Mr. Pickwick stepped out of the closet, and found himself in the presence of the whole establishment of Westgate House.” is simply not as funny as the plate which Phiz originally provided to show Pickwick's being out-maneuvered by the rapscallion Job Trotter and made to look like a foolish do-gooder, The unexpected "breaking-up of the Seminary for young ladies (September 1836).

Other Comic Illustrations of Pickwick's invading the precincts of the Girls' School

Left: Thomas Nast's cartoonish The immortal gentleman over the garden wall in the American Household Edition (1873). Right: Phiz's revision of the 1874 Chapman and Hall Household Edition, The door was just going to be closed to be closed in consequence, when an inquisitive boarder, who had been peeping between the hinges, set up a fearful screaming..

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, Robert Buss, and Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, November 1837. With 32 additional illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn (London: E. Grattan, April-November 1837).

Titley, Graham D. C. "Thomas Onwhyn: a Life in Illustration (1811-1886)." Pearl. University of Plymouth (2018-07-12).

Created 16 February 2024