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Mr. Pickwick addresses the Club (New Legend)
Re-engraved from Robert Seymour
17 November 1837; originals, April 1836
steel engraving
11 cm high by 9.9 cm wide, vignetted
Chapter 1, "The Pickwickians," Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, facing p. 2
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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What a study for an artist did that exciting scene present! The eloquent Pickwick, with one hand gracefully concealed behind his coat tails, and the other waving in air to assist his glowing declamation; his elevated position revealing those tights and gaiters, which, had they clothed an ordinary man, might have passed without observation, but which, when Pickwick clothed them — if we may use the expression — inspired involuntary awe and respect; surrounded by the men who had volunteered to share the perils of his travels, and who were destined to participate in the glories of his discoveries. On his right sat Mr. Tracy Tupman — the too susceptible Tupman, who to the wisdom and experience of maturer years superadded the enthusiasm and ardour of a boy in the most interesting and pardonable of human weaknesses — love. Time and feeding had expanded that once romantic form; the black silk waistcoat had become more and more developed; inch by inch had the gold watch-chain beneath it disappeared from within the range of Tupman's vision; and gradually had the capacious chin encroached upon the borders of the white cravat: but the soul of Tupman had known no change — admiration of the fair sex was still its ruling passion. On the left of his great leader sat the poetic Snodgrass, and near him again the sporting Winkle; the former poetically enveloped in a mysterious blue cloak with a canine-skin collar, and the latter communicating additional lustre to a new green shooting-coat, plaid neckerchief, and closely-fitted drabs. [Chapter 1, "The Pickwickians," p. 2]
As Albert Johannsen notes, Phiz has replaced the original caption, Page 2, which tells the collector where to insert the plate when the bindery is organizing the serial parts. Instead, the serial novel's third illustrator, Hablot Knight Browne, has engraved a title: Mr. Pickwick addresses the club. This is in fact the third steel-engraving that Browne etched to replace the original, often poorly executed Seymour plates from the serial parts. Even though this plate bears Seymour's name, this particular composition is Phiz's. It occurs in none of the extant sets of the monthly parts, but only in the 17 November 1837 (often referred to as the "1838") volume edition. As Johannsen remarks, "The bound volume with engraved titles [instead of page numbers as captions] is probably rarer than the earlier editions" (5). Johannsen enumerates eleven distinguishing features of Plate C, notably that the original artist's signature, although much clearer than in either the original Seymour plate or its duplicate, is not in fact in Seymour's style, having been etched much more sharply by Phiz for the first volume edition. Johannsen refers this Phiz re-engraving Plate C rather than its etched title, Mr. Pickwick addresses the club.
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, R. W. Buss, and Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). London: Chapman & Hall: April 1836 through November 1837.
_______. Pickwick Papers (1836-37). Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne. The Charles Dickens Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Facing title-page.
_______. Pickwick Papers (1836-37). Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne. The Household Edition. Viol. VI. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874.
_______. Pickwick Papers (1836-37). Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. New York: Harper and Bros., 1873.
Guiliano, Edward, and Philip Collins, eds. The Annotated Dickens. Vol. 1. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986.
Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter Two: The Pickwick Papers." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition, Vol. XVII. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Pp. 84-128.
Johannsen, 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.
Steig, Michael. "Chapter II. The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 24 to 50.
Vann, J. Don. "The Pickwick Papers, twenty parts in nineteen monthly instalments, April 1836-November 1837." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1985. P. 61.
Created 23 April 2022