"Vith these vords he rushes into the shop, breaks the dummy’s nose vith a blow of his curlin’-irons, melts him down at the parlour fire, and never smiles artervards." — Chapter V. "Mr. Weller's Watch," for Dickens's Master Humphrey's Clock in the Household Edition, Vol. XX, p. 296, by Fred Barnard. 1872. Woodblock Engraving by Dalziels. Descriptive Headline: "The Romance of Hairdressing" (297). 10.8 x 13.7 cm (4 ¼ by 5 ⅜ inches), framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: The Young Hairdresser Burns His Male Dummy in the Fireplace
Harry Furniss's final full-page illustration for Master Humphrey's Clock, The Blighted Hairdresser (1910).
"The young hairdresser hadn’t been in the habit o’ makin’ this avowal above six months, ven he en-countered a young lady as wos the wery picter o’ the fairest dummy. “Now,” he says, “it’s all up. I am a slave!” The young lady wos not only the picter o’ the fairest dummy, but she was wery romantic, as the young hairdresser was, too, and he says, “O!” he says, “here’s a community o’ feelin’, here’s a flow o’ soul!” he says, “here’s a interchange o’ sentiment!” The young lady didn’t say much, o’ course, but she expressed herself agreeable, and shortly artervards vent to see him vith a mutual friend. The hairdresser rushes out to meet her, but d’rectly she sees the dummies she changes colour and falls a tremblin’ wiolently. “Look up, my love,” says the hairdresser, “behold your imige in my winder, but not correcter than in my art!” “My imige!” she says. “Yourn!” replies the hairdresser. “But whose imige is that?” she says, a pinting at vun o’ the gen’lmen. “No vun’s, my love,” he says, “it is but a idea.” “A idea!” she cries: “it is a portrait, I feel it is a portrait, and that ’ere noble face must be in the millingtary!” “Wot do I hear!” says he, a crumplin’ his curls. “Villiam Gibbs,” she says, quite firm, “never renoo the subject. I respect you as a friend,” she says, “but my affections is set upon that manly brow.” “This,” says the hairdresser, “is a reg’lar blight, and in it I perceive the hand of Fate. Farevell!” Vith these vords he rushes into the shop, breaks the dummy’s nose vith a blow of his curlin’-irons, melts him down at the parlour fire, and never smiles artervards." [Chapter V, "Mr. Weller's Watch," pp. 295-296]
Commentary: The Hairdresser Out of Pique Destroys His Own Mannequin
W. H. C. Groome's full-page illustration for Master Humphrey's Clock, "Whose image is that!" (1907).
Both Groome (1907) and Furniss (1910) have depicted the young lady of Mr. Villiam Gibbs as falling in love with the "millingtary" idea of masculine beauty in her belovéd's shop window. Barnard, however, depicts the aftermath, when the distraught Gibbs destroys his own advertising dummy by melting him in the fireplace when he realizes that the woman he is in love with has fallen for a dummy: "I respect you as a friend," she says, "but my affections is set upon that manly brow." The young hairdresser's pronouncing his failed romance "a reg'lar blight" gives rise to Barnard's caption.
Thus, Barnard in his illustration set inside rather than outside the salon focuses not upon the superficial young lady but on the chagrined lover. He sits in his own stylist's chair, contemplating his creation and his loveless situation. His fate seems the logical nemesis for his having fallen in love with a local young woman whose hair-colour reminds him of his female mannequin. "The young hairdresser hadn't been in the habit o' makin' this avowal [that he would only marry a young woman who resembles the female mannequin] above six months, ven he encountered a young lady as wos the wery picter o' the fairest dummy." One cannot feel particularly sorry for so superficial a young hairdresser.
Other Illustrated Editions of Master Humphrey's Clock
- George Cattermole's Original Serial Illustrations for Master Humphrey's Clock (April 1840)
- W. H. C. Groome's Illustrations for Master Humphrey's Clock (1907)
- Harry Furniss's Six Illustrations for Master Humphrey's Clock (1910)
Related Materials
- Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop (homepage)
- The Old Curiosity Shop Illustrated: A Team Effort by "The Clock Works"
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. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Bibliography
Barnard, Fred, et al. Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens; being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard, Hablot K. Browne (Phiz), J. Mahoney [and others] printed from the original woodblocks engraved for "The Household Edition." London: Chapman & Hall, 1908.
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
Davis, Paul. "Master Humphrey's Clock." Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to his Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998. P. 238.
Dickens, Charles. Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by George Cattermole and Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). London: Chapman and Hall, 1840-41.
_______. Master Humphrey's Clock. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Reprinted Pieces, and Other Stories. With thirty illustrations by L. Fildes, E. G. Dalziel, and F. Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. XX. Pp. 253-306.
_______. Master Humphrey's Clock and Pictures from Italy. Collins Pocket Editions. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow: Collins Clear-type Press, 1907. Pp. 1-168.
_______. Barnaby Rudge and Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. Charles Dickens Library Edition. Volume VI. London: Educational Book, 1910.
________. The Dickens Souvenir Book. London: Chapman & Hall, 1912.
Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture Book: A Record of the Dickens Illustrators. "Ch. XIV. Master Humphrey's Clock." The Charles Dickens Library. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Pp. 259-265.
Master Hum-
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