Mr. Dombey by J. Clayton Clarke (“Kyd”) for the watercolour series (1910): reproduced on John Player cigarette card no. 42: Ninety-two Characters from Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop. 2 ½ inches high by 1 ¼ inches wide (6.3 cm high by 3.3 cm wide). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
MR. DOMBEY (Dombey and Son.)
A merchant-prince — a stern, unbending incarnation of dogged pride — whose life is centred in his son and the honour of his name. The untimely death of the one and the apparent shattering of the other by the machinations of “Mr. Carker, the manager,” drive him to the verge of suicide. His ultimate redemption he owes to the love and devotion of his hitherto despised and neglected daughter Florence. [Verso of Card No. 42]
The Passage upon which Kyd based his Portrait
Right: Paul's awkward moments with his father before the fire: Barnard's Dombey and Son for Chapter XVII (1877).
Dombey was about eight-and-forty years of age. Son about eight-and-forty minutes. Dombey was rather bald, rather red, and though a handsome well-made man, too stern and pompous in appearance, to be prepossessing. Son was very bald, and very red, and though (of course) an undeniably fine infant, somewhat crushed and spotty in his general effect, as yet. On the brow of Dombey, Time and his brother Care had set some marks, as on a tree that was to come down in good time — remorseless twins they are for striding through their human forests, notching as they go — while the countenance of Son was crossed with a thousand little creases, which the same deceitful Time would take delight in smoothing out and wearing away with the flat part of his scythe, as a preparation of the surface for his deeper operations.
Dombey, exulting in the long-looked-for event, jingled and jingled the heavy gold watch-chain that depended from below his trim blue coat, whereof the buttons sparkled phosphorescently in the feeble rays of the distant fire. Son, with his little fists curled up and clenched, seemed, in his feeble way, to be squaring at existence for having come upon him so unexpectedly.
“The House will once again, Mrs. Dombey,” said Mr. Dombey, “be not only in name but in fact Dombey and Son;” and he added, in a tone of luxurious satisfaction, with his eyes half-closed as if he were reading the name in a device of flowers, and inhaling their fragrance at the same time; “Dom-bey and Son!” [Household Edition, Chapter I, "Dombey and Son," pp. 1-2]
Comment: The Colour Blue in the Chromolithograph
Left: The Master and his devious Manager: Phiz's Mr. Dombey and His Confidential Agent (Chapter XLII, Part 14, November 1847).
Kyd's model for the facial features of the wealthy London capitalist was likely Phiz's study of the black-suited Mr. Dombey in The Christening Party (Chapter V). However, Kyd had no shortage of models since Mr. Dombey appears both on the wrapper, in the frontispiece, and in a total ten serial plates, most significantly perhaps as the alienated and embittered husband in "Let him remember it in that room, years to come" (Chapter LIX). And of course Kyd has access to the Barnard illustrations in the 1877 Household Edition, notably the title-page vignette of the father and son, and the opening illustration of Dombey in his study, A thorough contrast in all respects to Mr. Dombey (Chapter II).
Significantly in this chromolithograph the haughty Mr. Dombey in fashion of the mid-1840s is no longer in formal mourning. Indeed, his fashionable blue tailcoat and ruffled shirt are a sharp contrast to the severe, dark-coloured professional clothing of such other Kyd figures as Mr. Murdstone, Card No. 37; Uriah Heep, Card No. 38; Mr. Chadband, Card No. 50; Inspector Bucket, Card No. 49; and Mr. Pecksniff, Card No. 23; — all of whom, like Dombey, appear in Dickens novels with contemporary rather than Regency settings. Although the blue tailcoat is hardly reserved, it certainly communicates Dombey's affluence and a determination to keep up with the latest styles. And it is in sharp contrast with Dombey's forbidding mien in the opening chapters. Thus, the colourful attire suggests that this is not Dombey in mourning for his first wife, but Dombey with Major Bagstock at Leamington Spa, where he meets and courts the beautiful young widow, Edith Granger, in Chapters XX and XXI.
The Relevant Illustrations from Other Editions of the Novel (1846-1910)
Left: Phiz's October 1846 introduction of the merchant-prince and his dependents, The Dombey Family. Centre: The awkward family gathering for The Christening Party (Chapter V: Part 2, November 1846). Right: After a considerable absence from the narrative-pictorial sequence, Dombey returns in Mr. Dombey introduces his daughter Florence (Chapter XXVIII, Part 9, June 1847).
Left: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition illustration of the father and son: Dombey and Son (1867). Centre: Harry Furniss's frontispiece for the novel: Dombey and Son (1910). Right: W. H. C. Groome's derivative study of the father and son before the fire: "Papa! What's money?" (1900).
Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son
- Dombey and Son (homepage)
- Phiz's Illustrations for Dombey and Son, Wholesale Retail & for Exportation (Oct. 1846 - April 1848)
- 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)
- Fred Barnard's 61 illustrations for the Household Edition (1872)
- William H. C. Groome's Eight Illustrations for Dombey and Son (1900)
- Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Cards, 1910
Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these images 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.]
Bibliography: Dombey and Son
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
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[?].
Dickens, Charles. The Dickens Souvenir Book. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1871-1880. The copy of The Dickens Souvenir Book from which these pictures were scanned is in the collection of the Main Library of The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B. C.
Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne. London: Chapman and Hall, 1848.
_______. Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation. Works of Charles Dickens. Household Edition. 55 vols. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. New York: Sheldon and Co., 1863.
_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr, and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. III.
_______. Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation, with 61 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition, 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. Vol. XV.
_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. IX.
Hammerton, J. A. "Ch. XVI. Dombey and Son." The Dickens Picture-Book. London: Educational Book Co., [1910]. 294-338.
Vann, J. Don. "Dombey and Son, . . . October 1846 — April 1848." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. 67-68.
Created 12 January 2015
Last modified 20 July 2025