He was fast asleep; lying, easily, with his head upon his arm, as I had often seen him lie at school." Thirtieth illustration by Fred Barnard for the 1872 Household Edition of David Copperfield (Chapter XXIX, "I Visit Steerforth at His Home, Again," but positioned in the previous chapter, p. 209). 10.6 cm high by 13.9 cm wide (4 ¼ by 5 ½ inches), framed. Headline for page 217: "Steerforth's Slumbers." [Click on image to enlarge it. Mouse over text for links.]
Passage Illustrated: David Studies Steerforth as he Sleeps
"Daisy, if anything should ever separate us, you must think of me at my best, old boy. Come! Let us make that bargain. Think of me at my best, if circumstances should ever part us!"
"You have no best to me, Steerforth," said I, "and no worst. You are always equally loved, and cherished in my heart."
So much compunction for having ever wronged him, even by a shapeless thought, did I feel within me, that the confession of having done so was rising to my lips. But for the reluctance I had to betray the confidence of Agnes, but for my uncertainty how to approach the subject with no risk of doing so, it would have reached them before he said, "God bless you, Daisy, and good night!" In my doubt, it did not reach them; and we shook hands, and we parted.
I was up with the dull dawn, and, having dressed as quietly as I could, looked into his room. He was fast asleep; lying, easily, with his head upon his arm, as I had often seen him lie at school. [Chapter XXIX, "I Visit Steerforth at His Home, Again," 217]
Commentary
A fully dressed David, up and ready for breakfast at the Steerforth home, studies his friend as he sleeps. Once again, David is observer and recorder rather than actor. But the moment is significant in that it shows David reflecting upon what Steerforth told him the night before, an exchange that prepares readers for Steerforth's romantic abduction of Em'ly Peggotty. More subtle foreshadowing has occurred previously in the chapter through Rosa Dartle's pumping David for information about James Steerforth's recent movements, which, as we know, have tended towards Yarmouth.
Related Material
- David Copperfield (homepage)
- Phiz's 40 serial illustrations for David Copperfield (May 1849 - November 1850)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 1, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 2, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 3, 1862)
- Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
- W. H. C. Groome's 7 illustrations for the Collins Clear-type Pocket Edition, Vol. I (1907)
- Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Cards, 1910
- Harry Furniss's 29 Illustrations for Dickens's The Personal Experience and History of David Copperfield in the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [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 (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield, illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Centenary Edition. London & New York: Chapman & Hall, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911 [rpt. from 1850]. 2 vols.
_______. David Copperfield, with 61 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. 3.
_______. David Copperfield. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow: Collins Clear-type Press, 1907. No. 1.
The copy of the Household Edition from which this picture was scanned was the gift of George Gorniak, Editor of The Dickens Magazine, whose subject for the fifth series, beginning in January 2010, is this novel.
Created 20 August 2016 Last modified last updated 3 August 2022