“The Dolls' Dressmaker to See Mr. Fledgby” — Harry Furniss's twenty-sixth illustration for “Our Mutual Friend” (1910)

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The Dolls' Dressmaker to See Mr. Fledgby

Harry Furniss

1910

13.7 cm by 8.8 cm, or 5 ½ by 3 ½ inches, vignetted

The Charles Dickens Library Edition, Vol. XV, Book 4, “A Turning,” Chapter VIII, “A Few Grains of Pepper,” facing 768.

Jenny Wren took the liberty of opening an inner door, and then beheld the extraordinary spectacle of Mr. Fledgeby in a shirt, a pair of Turkish trousers, and a Turkish cap, rolling over and over on his own carpet, and spluttering wonderfully. — Our Mutual Friend, p. 751.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use the images on this page without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.].

Passage Illustrated: A Comic Scene Succeeds a Dramatic One — More Streaky Bacon

With a gleam of new intelligence in her sharp face, the dolls’ dressmaker pulled at Fledgeby’s bell. No one answered; but, from within the chambers, there proceeded a continuous spluttering sound of a highly singular and unintelligible nature.

‘Good gracious! Is Little Eyes choking?’ cried Miss Jenny.

Pulling at the bell again and getting no reply, she pushed the outer door, and found it standing ajar. No one being visible on her opening it wider, and the spluttering continuing, she took the liberty of opening an inner door, and then beheld the extraordinary spectacle of Mr. Fledgeby in a shirt, a pair of Turkish trousers, and a Turkish cap, rolling over and over on his own carpet, and spluttering wonderfully.

‘Oh Lord!’ gasped Mr Fledgeby. ‘Oh my eye! Stop thief! I am strangling. Fire! Oh my eye! A glass of water. Give me a glass of water. Shut the door. Murder! Oh Lord!’ And then rolled and spluttered more than ever.

Hurrying into another room, Miss Jenny got a glass of water, and brought it for Fledgeby’s relief: who, gasping, spluttering, and rattling in his throat betweenwhiles, drank some water, and laid his head faintly on her arm.

‘Oh my eye!’ cried Fledgeby, struggling anew. ‘It’s salt and snuff. It’s up my nose, and down my throat, and in my wind-pipe. Ugh! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ah — h — h — h!’ And here, crowing fearfully, with his eyes starting out of his head, appeared to be contending with every mortal disease incidental to poultry. [Book Four, Chapter VIII, “A Few Grains of Pepper,” pp. 751-752]

Commentary: Meanwhile, The Lammles Have Paid Fledgby a Visit — And Paid Him Out

Although she is certainly unconventional and outspoken, Furniss gives us only three scenes with Jenny Cleaver, otherwise, “Jenny Wren,” the novel’s third heroine. In her initial appearance (plate 12) she seems a perfectly normal young woman who is also a practising artisan. In her second appearance, she is befriending Riah, a scene which shows both her moral judgment and her capacity for sympathy for those who lie outside cultural norms. Now comes a comic scene in which she interacts with the ridiculous Fledgby just after he has received his comeuppance at the severe hands of Alfred Lammle. Whatever is going on in the young loan shark’s rooms in Book Four, Chapter 8, “A Few Grains of Pepper”?

The reader naturally wonders if Fledgby has a romantic interest in Jenny, or she (despite her astuteness) in him. No. Fledgby soon turns the conversation to his chief point of interest: through Riah has Jenny learned the whereabouts of Lizzie Hexam? Jenny is evasive. Offering her a bribe of “damage and waste” cuttings from Pubsey & Co. does not have the desired effect. She buys herself time to ponder Fledgby’s motives and an appropriate response by agreeing to call upon him at breakfast the next morning. And so the present illustration takes us to Jenny’s timely visit after 10:00 the next morning, to The Albany, Piccadilly, after delivering some commissions.

Again, Furniss's sense of the comedic and ridiculous enables him to surpass his likely model, She beheld the extraordinary spectacle of Mr. Fledgeby in his shirt, a pair of Turkish trousers, and a Turkish cap, rolling over and over on his own carpet, and sputtering wonderfully in the Household Edition (1875). The text immediately contextualizes the improbable scene, for the exit of the Lammles and the three broken bits of Lammle's walking-cane make it plain what Nemesis has caught up with the loan-shark. Here, however, the illustration extends the letterpress by showing readers the extent of Alfred Lammle's wrath in the overturned chair and screen, and something of his luxuriant lifestyle as implied by his expensive bric-a-brac, furnishings, and Persian lounging suit (much more effectively realised as Fledgby, in the midst of Baroque action, writhes on the floor).

Relevant Illustrations in the Serial and Household Editions (1865 and 1875)

Left: Marcus Stone's initial serial plate for the October 1865 (eighteenth) number: Miss Wren fixes her idea (Book IV, Chapter 4) suggests that it was the basis for Furniss's illustration. Right: Mahoney's version of precisely the same scene in Fledgby's rooms at The Albany: She beheld the extraordinary spectacle of Mr. Fledgeby in his shirt, a pair of Turkish trowsers, and a Turkish cap. . . in the Household Edition (1875). [Click on these images to enlarge them.]

Jenny Wren's Thirteen Other Appearances in the Three Principal Editions (1865 — 1910)

Stone's The Person of the House and the Bad Child (Oct., 1864)
Stone's The Garden on the Roof (Nov., 1864)
Stone's Trying on for the Dolls' Dressmaker (March, 1865)
Stone's Miss Wren fixes her idea (Oct., 1865)
Stone's Eugene's Bedside (Oct., 1865)
Mahoney's "Meaning," returned the little creature, "every one of you, but you. . . . ." (1875)
Mahoney's Jenny twisted her venerable friend aside. (1875)
Mahoney's She shook that emphatic little forefinger of hers in his face at parting. (1875)
Mahoney's She beheld the extraordinary spectacle of Mr. Fledgeby in his shirt, a pair of Turkish trousers, and a Turkish cap. (1875)
Mahoney's Miss Jenny gave up altogether on this parting taking place between the friends. (1875)
Mahoney's "There, there, there!" said Miss Wren. "For goodness' sake, stop, giant." (1875)
Furniss's Jenny Wren, the Dolls' Dressmaker (1910)
Furniss's Mr. Riah and Miss Wren at The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters. (1910)

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

The Characters of Charles Dickens Pourtrayed in a Series of Original Water Colour Sketches by “Kyd.” London, Paris, and New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1898[?].

Cordery, Gareth, and Joseph S. Meisel, eds. The Humours of Parliament: Harry Furniss's View of Late-Victorian Culture. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2014. [Review by Françoise Baillet]

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark and Facts On File, 1999.

Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). London: Bradbury & Evans. Bouverie Street, 1853.

Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by Marcus Stone [40 composite wood-block engravings]. The Authentic Edition of the Works of Charles Dickens. 21 vols. London: Chapman and Hall; New York: Charles Scribners' Sons, 1901 [based on the original nineteen-month serial and the two-volume edition of 1865]. Vol. XIV.

Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Frontispieces by Felix Octavius Carr Darley and Sir John Gilbert. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1872. 4 vols.

Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. VIII.

Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by James Mahoney. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume IX.

Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. XV.

Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter 21: The Other Novels." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Vol. XVII. 441-42.

Kitton, Frederic G. Dickens and His Illustrators. London: George Redway, 1899. Rpt. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 2004.

"Our Mutual Friend — Fifty-eight Illustrations by James Mahoney." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, Being Eight Hundred and Sixty-six Drawings by Fred Barnard, Gordon Thomson, Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz), J. McL. Ralston, J. Mahoney, H. French, Charles Green, E. G. Dalziel, A. B. Frost, F. A. Fraser, and Sir Luke Fildes. London: Chapman and Hall, 1907.

Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978. [discussion of dark plate etchings; e-text in Victorian Web.]

Vann, J. Don. "Our Mutual Friend, twenty parts in nineteen monthly instalments, May 1864—November 1865." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1985. 74.

Created 17 August 2025