"The Chamber of Death." — Phiz's initial serial illustration for James Malcolm Rymer's "A Mystery in Scarlet" (1866)

The Chamber of Death. Phiz (Hablot K. Browne). 1866. Wood engraving. Errym's A Mystery in Scarlet. Courtesy Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. Click on image to enlarge it.

Text Illustrated

There lay an open sheet of paper, likewise partially held down by the skeleton hands of this mysterious figure (260).

Commentary

Phiz follows Rymer’s text by depicting the skeleton of the unfortunate executioner of Charles I in a black mask (260), collapsed at his desk, his manuscript confession before him. The Marquis of Charlton (centre) illuminates the scene with a lantern, while the Mystery in Scarlet, Bertha, and Markham (right) look on. From this spectacle, they learn that violent revolution is not the way to correct England's history of monarchic tyranny, a lesson in keeping with the pacifist "Moral Force Chartism" of some of Rymer's earlier serials, such as Varney the Vampyre (London: Edward Lloyd, 1845-7). In the background is a mural in which a mediaeval lady and knight (left) pass by, as if they are ghosts or images in a phantasmagoria show. This, perhaps, is the processional triumph of history - which also incorporates the Regicide and, by the 1860s, the living characters of A Mystery in Scarlet.

Image scan by the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. Commentary by Rebecca Nesvet, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. Formatting, color correction, and sizing by George P. Landow[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 Indiana University and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Errym, Malcolm J [James Malcolm Rymer]. A Mystery in Scarlet, leading serial of The London Miscellany. Ed. James Malcolm Rymer, 1, no. 17 (1866): 1. From the copy in the collection of the Wells Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. Courtesy Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Last modified 13 July 2019