Left: Frontispiece and engraved title: The bowyer's daughter would look timidly back (p. 31). Left: He promptly turned the point aside (p. 38). Right: "He wouldn't pass vun single blessed post." (p. 141).
Master Humphrey's Clock (1907)
- Frontispiece, The bowyer's daughter would look timidly back.
- He promptly turned the point aside in the "First Night of the Giant Chronicles." (facing p. 38)
- "I'll never leave this place." (facing p. 65)
- Will seized a woman by the wrist. (facing p. 96)
- They placed the coffin in the vault (facing p. 105)
- "Now I'm grandfather." (facing p. 120)
- "Whose image is that?" (facing p. 137)
- "He wouldn't pass vun single blessed post." (facing p. 152)
Commentary
Of the eight small-scale lithographs, none deals with the subject of the second half of the volume, Pictures from Italy, Dickens's travelogue and social commentary from the mid-1840s. Five plates in some way involve the clothing styles of the Tudor period, appropriate to the miscellaneous tales of the Guildhall Giants in Master Humphrey's Clock (1840-41); the remaining three plates realise characters in the tales and sketches which the genial Mr. Pickwick narrates; all but one of these involve Sam Weller's father, the jolly coachman Tony. Since these miscellaneous periodical pieces in his weekly literary journal received but a lukewarm reception from the reading public, Dickens launched the picaresque novel featuring the wanderings of Little Nell, The Old Curiosity Shop. The last weekly number of Master Humphrey's Clock appeared on 4 December 1841, and the material was not reprinted during Dickens's lifetime.
Groome's Edwardian illustrations reveal, despite their small dimensions (12.4 cm high by 8.0 cm wide, on pages measuring 15.2 cm by 9.5 cm — standard for the Collins' Clear-type Editions), a sure sense of composition, although his Tudor-set pieces seem less maudlin. Groome prefers scenes between a limited number of characters, such as the frontispiece, The bowyer's daughter would look timidly back in Magog's opening tale in the original Master Humphrey's Clock, realizing the three principals, and merely sketching in the background. Groome puts his grouped characters in focus, and tends to throw the backdrop out of focus.
Scanned images, captions and commentary by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the 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.] Click on the images to enlarge them.
Bibliography
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. , 1990.
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1907. Vol. I.
_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1907, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one. Vol. XL.
_______. Master Humphrey's Clock and Pictures from Italy. With eight illustrations by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1907. Vol. XLIX.
_______. The Old Curiosity Shop. Illustrated by William H. C. Groome. The Collins' Clear-Type Edition. Glasgow & London: Collins, 1907. Vol. XXXVI.
Kirkpatrick, Robert J. "W. H. C. Groome." 20 August 2017. Bear Alley. https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2017/08/w-h-c-groome.html
Created 6 August 2022
Last modified 13 September 2026