Ornate initial capital "A" by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne). 6 November 1841. Wood engraving dropped into text. Vignette for Dickens's Master Humphrey's Clock, "Chapter the Seventy-fifth" (Part 39). 2.8 by 2.5 cm (approximately 1 ⅛ x 1 inch), framed, Vol. III, 373. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Passage Introduced
A MONTH has elapsed, — and we stand in the bedchamber of Sir John Chester. Through the half-opened window, the Temple Garden looks green and pleasant; the placid river, gay with boat and barge, and dimpled with the plash of many an oar, sparkles in the distance; the sky is blue and clear; and the summer air steals gently in, filling the room with perfume. The very town, the smoky town, is radiant. High roofs and steeple-tops, wont to look black and sullen, smile a cheerful grey; every old gilded vane, and ball, and cross, glitters anew in the bright morning sun; and, high among them all, St Paul’s towers up, showing its lofty crest in burnished gold. [Chapter the Seventy-fifth, 373]
Commentary
The campfire scene has apparently nothing to do with the contents of the chapter. However, Varden's retailed narrative from the phlegmatic hangman reveals that Hugh's mother was, in fact, a gypsy with him the young John Chester was intimately connected. The dark-haired woman is presumably Hugh's mother, and the hairy child sitting on the ground before the fire Hugh as an infant.
The Other Initial-letter Vignettes designed by Phiz for the Monthly Parts
- 1. Ornate capital "I," Ch. 1, p. 229: 13 February 1841
- 2. Ornate capital "B," Ch. 6, p. 265: 6 March 1841
- 3. Initial letter "I," Ch. 13, vol. 3, p. 1: 3 April 1841
- 4. Initial letter "T," Ch. 23, p. 61: 8 May 1841
- 5. Initial letter "P," Ch. 31, p. 109: 7 June 1841
- 7. Initial letter "T," Ch. 33, p. 120: 8 May 1841
- 8. Initial letter "T," Ch. 39, p. 157: 3 July 1841
- 9. Initial letter "I," Ch. 49, p. 217: 7 August 1841
- 10. Initial letter "B," Ch. 57, p. 265: 4 September 1841
- 11. Initial letter "D," Ch. 65, p. 313: 2 October 1841
Related Material including Other Illustrated Editions of Barnaby Rudge
- Dickens's Barnaby Rudge (homepage)
- Cattermole and Phiz: The First illustrators: A Team Effort by "The Clock Works" (1841)
- Cattermole's seventeen illustrations (13 Feb.-27 Nov. 1841)
- Felix Octavius Carr Darley's six illustrations (1865 and 1888)
- Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s ten Diamond Edition illustrations (1867)
- Fred Barnard's 46 illustrations for the Household Edition (1874)
- A. H. Buckland's six illustrations for the Collins' Clear-Type Edition (1900)
- Harry Furniss's 28 illustrations for The Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)
Image scan, caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image 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.]
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. Barnaby Rudge. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ('Phiz') and George Cattermole. London: Chapman and Hall, 1841; rpt., Bradbury & Evans, 1849.
________. Barnaby Rudge. Ed. Kathleen Tillotson. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ('Phiz') and George Cattermole. The New Oxford Illustrated Dickens. London: Oxford University Press. 1954, rpt. 1987.
Hammerton, J. A. "Ch. XIV. Barnaby Rudge." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition, illustrated by Harry Furniss. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. 213-55.
Vann, J. Don. "Charles Dickens. Barnaby Rudge in Master Humphrey's Clock, 13 February-27 November 1841." New York: MLA, 1985. 65-66.
Created 5 July 2002
Last modified 19 February 2025