"Blind Man's Buff" by Sol Eytinge, Jr.,: thirteenth full-page plate for the Diamond Edition of "A Christmas Carol"

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Blind Man's Buff

Sol Eytinge

Wood engraving

12.6 high x 9.5 cm

Fourteenth Illustration for the 1869 Boston Diamond Edition of Dickens's A Christmas Carol in Proses

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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The moments of family jollity which bachelor-curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge has not experienced since his days as an apprentice with old Fezziwig are represented by the after-dinner games that nephew Fred and his young adult guests play on Christmas day. A silent observer, Scrooge participates vicariously, enjoying the word-games in particular, the Dickenses in their Camden Town home in Charles's youth were avid participants in such games as Dickens describes in the third stave of A Christmas Carol. Although singing and forfeits form part of the evening's entertainments,

There was first a game at blind-man's buff. Of course there was. And I no more believe Topper was really blind than I believe he had eyes in his boots. My opinion is, that it was a done thing between him and Scrooge's nephew; and that the Ghost of Christmas Present knew it. The way he went after that plump sister in the lace tucker, was an outrage on the credulity of human nature. Knocking down fire-irons, tumbling over the chairs, bumping against the piano, smothering himself among the curtains, wherever went, there went he! He always knew where the plump sister was. He wouldn't catch anybody else.

Since Eytinge as an illustrator must create a single narrative-pictorial moment out of a succession of such moments, he has chosen the climax of the pursuit, as Topper (centre) is about to touch the plump sister hiding behind the window-curtains. We may fairly presume that nephew Fred and his wife are the young couple in the centre of the composition. The room is trimmed with greenery, and mistletoe hangs above the revellers (right). As opposed to the generally youthful gathering that Dickens describes, Eytinge has members of all generations present, and gives prominence to the boy and terrier in the foreground, reminding the viewer of the mixed-age group in John Leech's "Fezziwig's Ball." Unable to emulate the rapidity and energy of Dickens's prose in the chase passage, Eytinge creates the visual equivalent, a jumble of figures, who are, nevertheless generally looking left, at the conclusion of the courtship game of "Blind Man's Buff."

Last modified 22 January 2011