Codlin by J. Clayton Clarke ("Kyd") for the watercolour series (1910): reproduced on John Player cigarette card no. 28: Ninety-two Characters from Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop. 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.]
CODLIN (The Old Curiosity Shop)
A discontented, selfish philosopher; Short's partner in the “Punch and Judy” business. His "line" — taking the money — has given a a somewhat misanthropic bent to his mind, as “standing in front of the curtain and seeing the public's faces lets you know human natur' better.” “Codlin's the friend — not Short,” is firmly embedded in the most quotable strata of English proverbs. [Verso of Card No. 31]
Short's morose, discontented fellow-puppeteer, Codlin, no. 31 — characterisations based on the original serial illustrations of Dickens's "Clock Works" team of Phiz sixty-one plates; Daniel Maclise, Little Nell and the Sexton; and George Cattermole, fourteen plates, often architectural settings, but including the iconic death of Little Nell in At Rest for Chapter 71, 30 January 1841 (seventy-third plate in the series).
Passage Illustrated: The Dour Codlin interacts with Nell and her Grandfather
Left: “Short” — Card No. 26.
‘Why do you come here to do this?’ said the old man, sitting down beside them, and looking at the figures with extreme delight.
‘Why you see,’ rejoined the little man, ‘we’re putting up for to-night at the public-house yonder, and it wouldn’t do to let ‘em see the present company undergoing repair.’
‘No!’ cried the old man, making signs to Nell to listen, ‘why not, eh? why not?’
‘Because it would destroy all the delusion, and take away all the interest, wouldn’t it?’ replied the little man. ‘Would you care a ha’penny for the Lord Chancellor if you know’d him in private and without his wig? — certainly not.’
‘Good!’ said the old man, venturing to touch one of the puppets, and drawing away his hand with a shrill laugh. ‘Are you going to show ‘em to-night? are you?’
‘That is the intention, governor,’ replied the other, ‘and unless I’m much mistaken, Tommy Codlin is a calculating at this minute what we’ve lost through your coming upon us. Cheer up, Tommy, it can’t be much.’
The little man accompanied these latter words with a wink, expressive of the estimate he had formed of the travellers’ finances.
To this Mr. Codlin, who had a surly, grumbling manner, replied, as he twitched Punch off the tombstone and flung him into the box, ‘I don’t care if we haven’t lost a farden, but you’re too free. If you stood in front of the curtain and see the public’s faces as I do, you’d know human natur’ better.’
‘Ah! it’s been the spoiling of you, Tommy, your taking to that branch,’ rejoined his companion. ‘When you played the ghost in the reg’lar drama in the fairs, you believed in everything — except ghosts. But now you’re a universal mistruster. I never see a man so changed.’
‘Never mind,’ said Mr. Codlin, with the air of a discontented philosopher. ‘I know better now, and p’raps I’m sorry for it.’
Turning over the figures in the box like one who knew and despised them, Mr. Codlin drew one forth and held it up for the inspection of his friend:
‘Look here; here’s all this Judy’s clothes falling to pieces again. You haven’t got a needle and thread I suppose?’ [Chapter XVI, Master Humphrey's Clock, Book One, 178]
Commentary: The Universal Mistruster, Tommy Codlin, as Short's Character Foil
The itinerant puppeteers with the contrasting personalities make their first appearances in Phiz's Punch in the Churchyard (Part Ten: Chapter XVI, 11 July 1840). Following the models that this wood-engraving provided him, Kyd gave portly Short a pleasant expression and a waistcoat, and the lean Codlin a long coat and striped trousers; in this version by Kyd of the puppeteers, it is the dour Codlin and not the amicable Short who is carrying the trumpet. Not surprisingly, it is Codlin and not Short who betrays Nell and her grandfather to the authorities as runaways in hopes of being monetarily rewarded.
As is consistent with the original serial wood-engravings, Kyd has provided a visual analogue for Dickens's presenting his Punch-and-Judy puppeteers as foils, or sharply contrasting types, to underscore their essentially different character traits: portly, constantly smiling, optimistic, and jolly Short versus his dour, misanthropic, gaunt, and buttoned-up partner Tommy Codlin. Following the models that Phiz's celebrated illustration Punch in the Churchyard provided him, Kyd has given portly Short (Harris, also known as “Trotters”) a pleasant expression and a waistcoat, and the lean Codlin a long coat and striped trousers; however, in Kyd's illustration it is the sour-expressioned Codlin and not the amicable Short who is carrying the trumpet.
What strikes us most about these companion portraits is the absence of colour in Kyd's characterisation of Codlin. In terms of their names, Codlin’s lack of any sort of amusing nickname in light of Short’s having three (“Short,” “Short Trotters,” and “Trotters”) suggests that there is nothing endearing about the partner who handles the finances. And his bland, grey costume underscores his dour personality. In contrast, Kyd has used colour to his advantage in his portrait of the Punch man.
Other Artists' Conceptions of "Dour" Codlin and "Merry" Short (1840 & 1872)
Left: Phiz's caricatural style hardly flatters the Punch-and-Judy performers, even though the text underscores their affability: Punch in the Churchyard (Part Ten: 11 July 1840). Right: Worth's more prosaic Household Edition illustration establishes the ill-kempt natures of Codlin and Short in Nelly, kneeling down beside the box, was soon busily engaged in her task for Chapter XVI (1872).
Relevant illustrations from Other Editions (1840 and 1910)
Left: Phiz's study of the puppeteers as the Gentleman, searching for news of Nell, interrogates them in Chapter XXXVII: Interview with Codlin and Short (26 September 1840). Right: Harry Furniss's realisation of the churchyard scene in the Charles Dickens Library edition, Codlin and Short in the Churchyard (1910).
Relevant Illustrations from the 1861 and 1888 editions by Darley
- O. C. Darley's Little Nell and her Grandfather (1888)
- O. C. Darley's "Do I love thee, Nell," said he; "say do I love thee, Nell, or not?" (Frontispiece, Vol. 1, 1861)
- O. C. Darley's The Fugitives (Frontispiece, Vol. 2, 1861)
Other Artists' Illustrations for Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop (1841-1924)
- George Cattermole (13 plates selected)
- Hablot Knight Browne (61 wood-engravings)
- Felix O. C. Darley (4 photogravure plates)
- Sol Eytinge, Jr. (8 wood engravings)
- Thomas Worth (47 wood engravings)
- W. H. C. Groome (9 lithographs)
- Harry Furniss (31 lithographs plus engraved title)
- Harold Copping (2 chromolithographs selected)
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 them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography: Illustrated Editions of The Old Curiosity Shop
Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop in Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by Phiz, George Cattermole, Samuel Williams, and Daniel Maclise. 3 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1841; rpt., Bradbury and Evans, 1849.
_____. The Old Curiosity Shop. Frontispieces by Felix Octavius Carr Darley and Sir John Gilbert. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1863. 4 vols.
_____. The Old Curiosity Shop. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. XII.
_____. The Old Curiosity Shop. Illustrated by Thomas Worth. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Bros., 1872. I.
_____. The Old Curiosity Shop. Illustrated by Charles Green. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876. XII.
_____. The Old Curiosity Shop. With nineteen steel-plate illustrations from original wood-engravings by Phiz and George Cattermole. 2 vols. "New Illustrated Library Edition" of the Works of Charles Dickens. New York: Hurd and Houghton; Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1876. Vols. VI and VII.
_____. The Old Curiosity Shop. Illustrated by William H. C. Groome. The Collins' Clear-Type Edition. Glasgow & London: Collins, 1900.
_____. The Old Curiosity Shop. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book, 1910. V.
Hammerton, J. A. "XIII. The Old Curiosity Shop." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book, 1910. XVII, 170-211.
Vann, J. Don. "The Old Curiosity Shop in Master Humphrey's Clock, 25 April 1840-6 February 1841." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. 64-65.
Created 9 January 2015
Last updated 15 July 2024