A Christmas Party. William S. Brunton (fl. 1859-71), artist; Dalziel, engraver. Fun (6 January 1866): 170. Courtesy of the Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection in the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Click on image to enlarge it. — George P. Landow]
The picture that accompanies this piece resembles an updated version of the Christmas party in Pickwick Papers. Indeed, it reminds one of Phiz’s illustrations, and the rotund middle-aged fellow leading the woman on the dance floor is a descendant of Pickwick himself. It therefore seems a bit odd that the text accompanying the image, which is purportedly “From Our Unwilling Contributor,” could have been written by the unredeemed Scrooge, for he opens with these words: “If you want to know my opinions about Christmas — Yah! That’s it — Yah! You may talk about the merry Yule tide, and write your sentimental stories and carols, and represent that it’s a genial, hearty, forgiving, lovely time of year, but I still say, yah!” He then proceeds to tell how he awoke from a nightmare on Christmas eve and staggered into a party given by his landlady. Of course he did have some plum pudding and did end up singing a comic song.
[You may use the image above without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the University of Florida library and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Last modified 9 March 2016