Mr. Peggotty, Ham, and Mrs. Gummidge
Sol Eytinge
Wood engraving
10 high x 7.6 cm wide
Third full-page Illustration for Dickens's David Copperfield in the Ticknor and Fields (Boston), 1867, Diamond Edition.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
The subject of this third illustration is the unconventional lowr middle-class family that provides its members — who are not even all blood relatives — mutual emotional support, a contrast in David's experience to his own dysfunctional, cold, repressive family of mother, stepfather, and aunt by marriage. The gentle, jovial Dan'l Peggotty and the jolly Ham Peggotty are in direct contrast to the cruel stepfather, Murdstone, and his cold, unfeeling sister, Jane Murdstone. Although the grouping might suggest any one of a number of moments in David's account of the Peggottys, an interchange on the facing page may be associated with the illustration:
Mrs. Gummidge moaned.
"Cheer up, mawther!" cried Mr. Peggotty.
"I feel it more than anybody else," said Mrs Gummidge. "I'm a lone lorn creetur', and she used to be a'most the only think that didn't go contrairy with me." [Ch. 10, "I Become Neglected, and Am Provided For," p. 79]
Unlike Phiz's illustrations, Eytinge's offer no context for the scene, which in fact occurs in the boathouse. Moreover, there is no caption pointing to a particular moment in the narrative, and no emblematic details to comment upon the situation and the character. Yet the faces and the postures of Eytinge's figures tell us much about their characters: Ham, naive but concerned; Dan'l, caring and optimistic; and Mrs. Gummidge, perpetually depressed and in need of comforting.
Reference
Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Il. Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867.
Last modified 9 January 2011