[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Illustration —> Thomas Nast —> Pickwick Papers —> Charles Dickens —> Next]
Household Edition: Uncaptioned Frontispiece — A Welcoming Sam Weller
Thomas Nast
1873
composite woodblock engraving
vignette, 6.6 cm high by 5.5 cm wide; page, 24.5 cm high by 17.2 cm wide
The Works of Charles Dickens, the American Household Edition of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Society. New York. Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
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.]
He was habited in a coarse, striped waistcoat, with black calico sleeves, and blue glass buttons; drab breeches and leggings. A bright red handkerchief was wound in a very loose and unstudied style round his neck, and an old white hat was carelessly thrown on one side of his head. [Chapter X, "Clearing up all Doubts (if any existed) of the Disinterestedness of Mr. A. Jingle's Character," page 60]
Although Victorian illustration customarily illustrates or elaborates upon a textual moment, here Nast employs one of the most conspicuous places for an illustration, the title-page vignette, to introduce the street-wise Cockney boots well ahead of his appearance in the text. Nast employs the image of Sam Weller, tugging his forelock after he has removed his hat, to usher the reader into the book. The boots makes direct eye contact with the readers, as if they are encountering him personally. One might contend that Nast had a very particular narrative moment in the tenth chapter in mind, namely the point at which Sam delivers a pair of shined boots to one of the private rooms at The Borough's White Hart Inn:
Stimulated by this inspiring reflection, Mr. Samuel brushed away with such hearty good-will, that in a few minutes the boots and shoes, with a polish which would have struck envy to the soul of the amiable Mr. Warren (for they used Day & Martin at the White Hart), had arrived at the door of number five.
"Come in," said a man’s voice, in reply to Sam’s rap at the door. Sam made his best bow, and stepped into the presence of a lady and gentleman seated at breakfast. Having officiously deposited the gentleman’s boots right and left at his feet, and the lady’s shoes right and left at hers, he backed towards the door.
"Boots," said the gentleman.
"Sir," said Sam, closing the door, and keeping his hand on the knob of the lock. [Chapter X, "Clearing up all Doubts (if any existed) of the Disinterestedness of Mr. A. Jingle's Character," page 61]
Oddly enough, this is Nast's most realistic and natural treatment of the loquacious Cockney boots; in most of his other represents, Nast makes Sam Weller look stiff, awkward, and cartoonish, unlike the almost photographically realistic images of fellow American illustrator Felix Octavius Carr Darley.
Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. The Household Edition. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. New York: Harper and Brothers 1873.
Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. The Household Edition. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1874.
Last modified 4 July 2019
