"Snatching up a meal-sack, [he] effectually stopped the conflict" — fifty-fourth illustration by Phiz for Dickens's "Pickwick Papers" (British Household Edition, 1874)

Snatching up a meal-sack, effectually stopped the conflict by drawing it over the head and shoulders of the mighty Pott by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne). British Household Edition (1874) of Dickens's Pickwick Papers, facing page 363: fourth full-page engraving. Engraved by one of the Dalziels for Chapter LI, “In which Mr. Pickwick encounters an old Acquaintance. To which fortunate circumstance the Reader is mainly indebted for matter of thrilling interest herein set down, concerning two great Public Men of might and power,” positioned against the text illustrated. The composite woodblock illustration is 12.9 cm high by 17.5 cm wide (5 by 6 ⅞ inches), framed. [Click on image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: The Buff- and Blue-leaning Editors Engage in Political Mayhem

Phiz's original serial illustration The Rival Editors. (October 1837, Instalment 18)

"Gentlemen," cried Mr. Pickwick, as Pott started up and seized the fire-shovel — "gentlemen! Consider, for Heaven's sake — help — Sam — here — pray, gentlemen — interfere, somebody."

Uttering these incoherent exclamations, Mr. Pickwick rushed between the infuriated combatants just in time to receive the carpet-bag on one side of his body, and the fire-shovel on the other. Whether the representatives of the public feeling of Eatanswill were blinded by animosity, or (being both acute reasoners) saw the advantage of having a third party between them to bear all the blows, certain it is that they paid not the slightest attention to Mr. Pickwick, but defying each other with great spirit, plied the carpet-bag and the fire-shovel most fearlessly. Mr. Pickwick would unquestionably have suffered severely for his humane interference, if Mr. Weller, attracted by his master's cries, had not rushed in at the moment, and, snatching up a meal — sack, effectually stopped the conflict by drawing it over the head and shoulders of the mighty Pott, and clasping him tight round the shoulders. [Chapter LI, “In which Mr. Pickwick encounters an old Acquaintance. To which fortunate circumstance the Reader is mainly indebted for matter of thrilling interest herein set down, concerning two great Public Men of might and power,” 363]

Pickwick in the thick of LOcal Politics

This composite woodblock engraving by Phiz reprises earlier scenes of the party rivalry at the Eatanswill election in the original serial and "He has come out," said little Mr. Perker, greatly excited; the more so as their position did not enable them to see what was going forward (page 81) in the Household Edition. Pickwick attended a by-election in Chapter XIII, but the Buff-Blue rivalry here becomes a physical altercation and a subsequent physical battle between the editors of the Tory ("Blue") and Whig ("Buff") journals for the town.

By sheer coincidence, the editors Pott and Slurk arrive by separate carriages at The Saracen's Head, Towchester, just after heavy rain has forced Pickwick's party, travelling from Birmingham back to London, to pull in for a change of horses and some refreshment. Everyone invovled has gone into the inn's kitchen because that is the only room at the coaching inn with a roaring fire. Although Dickens accords the medical students some prominence in the scene as they hope to bleed the antagonists, in Phiz's illustrations Bob Sawyer (in checked trousers, right) and Ben Allen (in glasses and smoking a cigarette, right) are incidental to the action. Ineffectually, the landlady (right) has been endeavouring to clean up the mess the adversaries have made in her kitchen, but has passed out and is being propped up by a maid (left). Phiz again represents the domestic chaos by overturned chair and stools. The landlord (rear, centre) looks on helplessly at the ramage. The centre of the action is once again, of course, the hapless Mr. Pickwick, who raises his hands to protest against fray as he is about to be assaulted by the irate Slurk (carpetbag raised). As one would expect, Sam Weller (upper left) effectively terminates the pugilistic activity of the coal-scuttle-wielding Pott as Pickwick tries to place himself between the adversaries.

Related Material

The Previous Full-Page Engravings

Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910

Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the images, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Cohen, Jane Rabb. Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus: Ohio State U. P., 1980.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File and Checkmark Books, 1998.

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).

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. 1.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 16 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 4.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 6.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

Guiliano, Edward, and Philip Collins, eds. The Annotated Dickens.2 vols. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986. Vol. I.

Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture-Book. London: Educational Book Co., 1910.

Johnannsen, Albert. "The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club." Phiz Illustrations from the Novels of Charles Dickens. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Toronto: The University of Toronto Press, 1956. Pp. 1-74.

Kitton, Frederic G. Dickens and His Illustrators. 1899. Rpt. Honolulu: U. Press of the Pacific, 2004.

Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 24-50.

Created 11 March 2012

Last modified 8 April 2024