The figures of a horse and rider came slowly through the mist by John McLenan. Illustration for Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Book I, Ch. 2, “The Mail” [Coach passengers, the guard, and Jerry Cruncher on horseback] 17.4 cm high by 11.5 cm wide (6 ⅞ by 4 ⅝ inches). McLenan's illustration appeared in Harper's Weekly on Saturday, 7 May (p. 289); this instalment of the novel appeared previously in UK on Saturday, 30 April 1859, in All the Year Round]. Compare this woodblock illustration to Phiz's steel-engraving The Mail (No. 1, June 1859). [Click on the illustration to enlarge it.]
The illustrations appearing here are courtesy of the E. J. Pratt Fine Arts Library, University of Toronto, and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Passage Realised: Jerry Cruncher Intercepts The Dover Mail — “Recalled to life.”
“Come on at a footpace! d’ye mind me? And if you’ve got holsters to that saddle o’ yourn, don’t let me see your hand go nigh ’em. For I’m a devil at a quick mistake, and when I make one it takes the form of Lead. So now let’s look at you.”
The figures of a horse and rider came slowly through the eddying mist, and came to the side of the mail, where the passenger stood. The rider stooped, and, casting up his eyes at the guard, handed the passenger a small folded paper. The rider’s horse was blown, and both horse and rider were covered with mud, from the hoofs of the horse to the hat of the man.
“Guard!” said the passenger, in a tone of quiet business confidence.
The watchful guard, with his right hand at the stock of his raised blunderbuss, his left at the barrel, and his eye on the horseman, answered curtly, “Sir.”
“There is nothing to apprehend. I belong to Tellson’s Bank. You must know Tellson’s Bank in London. I am going to Paris on business. A crown to drink. I may read this?”
“If so be as you’re quick, sir.”
He opened it in the light of the coach-lamp on that side, and read—first to himself and then aloud: “‘Wait at Dover for Mam’selle.’ It’s not long, you see, guard. Jerry, say that my answer was, Recalled to life.” [Book the First — "Recalled to Life," Chapter II, "The Mail," 290]
Other Illustrated Editions (1859-1910)
- Hablot K. Brown or 'Phiz' (16 illustrations, 1859)
- Sol Eytinge, Junior (8 illustrations, 1867)
- Fred Barnard (25 illustrations, 1874)
- A. A. Dixon (12 illustrations, 1905)
- Harry Furniss (32 illustrations, 1910)
Related Material
- John McLenan's Thirty-One Headnote Vignettes for A Tale of Two Cities in Harper's Weekly (7 May — 3 December 1859)
- McLenan's and Phiz's Illustrations for
A Tale of Two Cities (1859): A Correspondence?
- Images of the French Revolution from Various Editions of A Tale of Two Cities (1859-1910)
- French Revolution
- Victorian Images of the French Revolution
- "A Tale of Two Cities (1859): A Model of the Integration of History and Literature"
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.]
Bibliography
Allingham, Philip V. "Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Illustrated: A Critical Reassessment of Hablot Knight Browne's Accompanying Plates." Dickens Studies. 33 (2003): 109-158.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, 7 May through 3 December 1859.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities: A story of the French Revolution. Project Gutenberg e-text by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska. Release Date: September 25, 2004 [EBook #98].
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. With illustrations by John McLenan and Rowland Wheelwright. Orinda, Cal.: Sea Wolf Press, 2021.
Created 5 August 2007
Last modified 14 November 2025