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“The fat old lady,” inquired Mr.Pickwick, innocently.
“Hush, my
dear Sir — nobody's fat or old in Ba-ath. That’s the Dowager Snuphanuph.”
Thomas Onwhyn [“TO del”]
steel engraving
12 cm high by 11.4 cm wide (4 ¾ by 4 ⅜ inches), vignetted
Charles Dickens's The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Chapter XXXV, “In Which Mr. Pickwick Thinks He Had Better Go to Bath; and Goes Accordingly,” facing 380.
[Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
‘Stop in the tea-room. Take your sixpenn’orth. Then lay on hot water, and call it tea. Drink it,’ said Mr. Dowler, in a loud voice, directing Mr. Pickwick, who advanced at the head of the little party, with Mrs. Dowler on his arm. Into the tea-room Mr. Pickwick turned; and catching sight of him, Mr. Bantam corkscrewed his way through the crowd and welcomed him with ecstasy.
‘My dear Sir, I am highly honoured. Ba—ath is favoured. Mrs. Dowler, you embellish the rooms. I congratulate you on your feathers. Re-markable!’
‘Anybody here?’ inquired Dowler suspiciously.
‘Anybody! The elite of Ba—ath. Mr. Pickwick, do you see the old lady in the gauze turban?’
‘The fat old lady?’ inquired Mr. Pickwick innocently.
‘Hush, my dear sir — nobody’s fat or old in Ba—ath. That’s the Dowager Lady Snuphanuph.’
‘Is it, indeed?’ said Mr. Pickwick. [Chapter XXXV, “In Which Mr. Pickwick Thinks He Had Better Go to Bath; and Goes Accordingly,” 380]
Part Thirteen (April 1837) is composed of the three Bath chapters, and introduces readers to Dickens's brilliant satire on the spa-town's visitors and their acknowledged chief, The Grand Master, "Angelo Cyrus Bantam, Esquire, M.C.; Bantam," the "M. C." being the abbreviation for Master of Ceremonies. As a bit of a vacation after the trial Tupman, Winkle, and Snodgrass accompany their chief to the Somerset spa town. They take rooms at the White Hart Hotel, immediately opposite the Great Pump Room. Through their travelling acquaintance, Mr. Dowler, the Pickwickians have already been introduced to Angelo Cyrus Bantam, Esquire, M. C., who is shocked to learn that Pickwick has never before visited Bath.
In the present illustration, the Pickwickians, accompanied by Dowler, have arrived at the Assembly Rooms on ball-night. In the tea-room they encounter legions of old ladies, hovering around the car-tables and making small talk with decrepit old gentlemen. The corners of the rooms and the areas near the doors, in contrast, are occupied by "silly young men," while diverse married ladies are seated on the back benches. However, Onwhyn depicts only Pickwick, Mrs. Dowler (left, in feathers), Bantam, and the older ladies, the principal of whom is the haughty dowager to the right, wearing a species of turban. Sadly, the illustrator has chosen not to include the fabulously wealthy Young Lord Mutanhed, but has included the balding, enormous-headed Dowler between Pickwick and Bantam.
Left: Thomas Nast's American Household Edition's engraving for the Chapter XXXV, Having taken a short walk through the city (1873). Right: Phiz's original steel engraving for Chapter XXXV (April 1837) The Card-room at Bath. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Left: Phiz's other April 1837 steel engraving of the Bath sojourn: for Chapter XXXVI, Mr. Winkle's Situation when the Door 'blew-to'. Right: The British Household Edition's Bath illustration by Phiz of the card-room is less caricatural, and focuses on the Master of Ceremonies, "Poor Mr. Pickwick! He had never played with three thorough-paced female card-players before (1874). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
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).
_______. The Pickwick Papers. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874 (illustrated by Phiz); New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873 (illustrated by Thomas Nast). Vol. 6.
Titley, Graham D. C. "Thomas Onwhyn: a Life in Illustration (1811-1886)." Pearl. University of Plymouth (2018-07-12).
Created 25 February 2024