Major Bagstock by J. Clayton Clarke ("Kyd") for the 1910 watercolour series: reproduced on John Player cigarette card no. 7: Ninety-two Characters from Dickens: Dombey and Son. 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.]
MAJOR BAGSTOCK: Dombey and Son (Card No. 7)
A pompous, wooden-featured, wooden-headed incarnation of selfishness is Joey Bagstock, with an overwhelming fondness for continually apostrophizing himself (and his cuteness) in the third person. "Joe is awake, Ma'am. Bagstock is alive, Sir. JB knows a move or two. Josh has his weather-eye open. You'll find him tough, Ma'am. Tough, Sir, tough is Joseph. Tough, and de-vilish sly." [Verso of Card No. 7]
Of course, far from being a model of sagacity and self-knowledge, the retired colonial administrator is obtuse, petty, conceited, overbearing — and racist. And despite the positive reception which little Paul Dombey, his sister Florence, and the nautical Walter Gay and his Uncle Sol Gills enjoyed throughout the serial run of Dombey and Son (twenty parts: October 1846 — April 1848), its other characters did not tend to endear themselves to the reading public, perhaps because this thoroughly contemporary novel was not enshrouded in the genial mists of memory. From this lengthy novel for and of the Industrial Age, only a handful of its quirky characters found themselves in Kyd's cavalcade of Player's "Characters from Dickens," including the delightful old salt Captain Cuttle (Card No. 35) and his dictatorial landlady Mrs. MacStinger (Card No. 43).
Parallel Scenes from Various Editions (1847, 1867, 1877, and 1900)
Left: Phiz's original serial study: "Joe B. is sly, Sir, devilish sly" (June 1847). Left of centre: W. H. C. Groome's concluding illustration is much more critical of the Major's brutal treatment of his colonial servant and much less sympathetic to his employer, The unfortunate Native suffered terribly (1900). Right of centre: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s study of the Major and his much chivvied valet: "Major Bagstock and the Native (1867). Right: Fred Barnard's initial Household Edition depiction of the Major and his heavily-laden Indian valet: "Take Advice from Plain, Old Joe" (1877).
Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son
- Dombey and Son (homepage)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Household edition (Vol. 1, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Household edition (Vol. 2, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Household edition (Vol. 3, 1862)
- Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
- Fred Barnard's 61 Illustrations for the British Household Edition (1877)
- Groome's illustrations of the Collins Pocket Edition (1900, rpt. 1934)
- Kyd's five for Player's Cigarette Cards (1910)
- Harry Furniss's 29 illustrations for the Charles Dickens Library Edition (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 the images and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated Library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton & Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.
_________. Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. IX.
Created 5 January 2015
Last modified 7 July 2025