“Initial Letter "I"”— wood-engraving by Fred Walker for Thackeray's "Denis Duval" (May 1864)

A “Initial Letter "I"”— wood-engraving by Fred Walker for Thackeray's "Denis Duval" (May 1864)

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Initial Letter "I"

Frederick Walker

Wood engraving by Joseph Swain

3.5 inches by 2 inches (8.5 cm high by 5 cm wide), vignetted.

W. M. Thackeray, Denis Duval, serialized in The Cornhill Magazine Vol. IX, No. 53 (May 1864), page 513.

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Scanned image by Simon Cooke and text by Philip V. Allingham

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Passage Complemented: Initial Letter Vignette I for Chapter VI

I spoke of the affair of the brick-bats, at home, to Monsieur de la Motte only, not caring to tell mother, lest she should be inclined to resume her box-on-the-ear practice, for which I thought I was growing too old. [Instalment Three, p. 513]

Commentary

The scene outside Rudge's House in Winchelsea focuses on three naughty boys at the door at the restaurant, attempting (apparently) to catch a glimpse of pretty little Agnes de Saverne, during their half-holiday. Denis's school-fellows form a chorus of support at Denis's trial for theft.

The chapter-titles and instalments are as follows:

I: "The Family Time" (March 1864)
II: "The House of Saverne" (March 1864)
III: "The Travellers" (March 1864)
IV: "Out of the Depths" (April 1864)
V: "I hear the sound of Bow Bells" (April 1864)
VI: "Escape from a Great Danger" (May 1864)
VII: "The Last of My School-days" (May 1864)
VIII: "I enter His Majesty's Navy" (June 1864).

Related Materials

Little Denis Dances for the Naval Gentlemen (March 1864)
Last Moments of the Count of Saverne (April 1864)
Initial Letter "T" for Chapter IV (page 385) (May 1864)
Evidence for the Defence (May 1864)
Denis's Valet (June 1864)
Initial letter "I" for Chapter VIII (page 642)

Bibliography

Marks, John George. Life and Letters of Frederick Walker, A. R. A.. London and New York: Macmillan, 1896.

Phillips, Claude. Denis Duval's Valet by Walker. Frederick Walker and His Works. London: Seeley & Co., 1905 [re-issue of the 1894 edition], facing page 21.

Reid, Forrest. Illustrators of the Eighteen Sixties: An Illustrated Survey of the Work of 58 British Artists. New York: Dover, 1975. Originally published by Faber and Gwyer in London, 1928, as Illustrators of the Sixties.

Sutherland, John. "The Genesis of Thackeray's Denis Duval." The Review of English Studies, Volume XXXVII, Issue 146 (1 May 1986): Pp. 226–233.

Thackeray, W. M. Denis Duval, serialized in The Cornhill Magazine. London: Smith Elder, March-June 1864.

Vann, J. Don. "Denis Duval in the Cornhill Magazine, March–June 1864." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. P. 140.

Last modified 1 August 2018