Dedication
This Christmas Book is cordially inscribed to my English friends in Switzerland.
Illustrations: Artists, Titles, and Engravers.
| Plate | Artist | Title | Engraver |
| Plate 1 | Daniel Maclise, R. A. | Frontispiece | Thompson |
| Plate 2 | Daniel Maclise, R. A. | Engraved Title | Thompson |
| Plate 3 | Richard Doyle | Part the First (page 3) | Dalziel |
| Plate 4 | Clarkson Stanfield, R. A. | War (page 5) | Williams |
| Plate 5 | Clarkson Stanfield, R. A. | Peace (page 11) | Williams |
| Plate 6 | John Leech | The Parting Breakfast (page 28) | Williams |
| Plate 7 | Richard Doyle | Part the Second (page 55) | Green |
| Plate 8 | John Leech | Snitchey and Craggs (page 68) | Edgar Dalziel |
| Plate 9 | Daniel Maclise, R. A. | The Secret Interview (page 96) | T. Williams |
| Plate 10 | John Leech | The Night of the Return (page 114) | Frederick Dalziel |
| Plate 11 | Richard Doyle | Part the Third (page 123) | Frederick Dalziel |
| Plate 12 | John Leech | The Nutmeg Grater (page 127) | T. Williams |
| Plate 13 | Daniel Maclise, R. A. | The Sisters (page 174) | T. Williams |
The Battle Team: Four Artists, Four Engravers
The little Christmas books were in a way the most noteworthy of all Dickens's works in the matter of illustration. No fewer than seven celebrated artists were associated with the illustrations of the five books. John Leech was he only one who contributed to them all. . . . — J. A. Hammerton, "Illustrators of the Christmas Books," p. 14.
[Click on all the images to enlarge the lists.]
As Dickens's sounding the Chartist trumpet in The Chimes through firebrand Will Fern had excited the animus of a number of reviewers, in the autumn of 1845 and again in the summer months of 1846 Dickens had decided to avoid socially contentious issues. In fact, for his fourth in the Christmas Book series he set the story well back into the eighteenth century with Oliver Goldsmith's novella The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) in mind, a little book still immensely popular with the Victorians.
Although caricaturist John Leech had been the only illustrator for A Christmas Carol (eight illustrations, 1843), once again, for the fourth in the series, he became a member of a team of four. Whereas he had been the lead illustrator for the second Christmas Book, and again for The Chimes remained the most significant member of the team with five of thirteen illustrations, 1844); for the third in the series, The CricketLeech, despite heavy cartooning commitments for Punch and other periodicals, he again executed half of the visual program. However, for The Battle of Life. A Love Story, Leech contributed only three of the thirteen engravings, whereas Daniel Maclise contributed four. And whereas in The Cricket on the Hearth landscape and seascape painter Clarkson Stanfield, an ex-Royal Navy man, had been represented only once, as he is in the second Christmas Book, in the 1846 volume he became a much more significant contributor, with three landscape pieces for The Battle of Life (1846). He appeared as prominently again, with three illustrations, in The Haunted Man (1848).
Illustrators, Engravers, and Illustrations for the Second, Third, and Last Christmas Books
Left: The "Illustrations" for The Chimes in the December 1844 Chapman and Hall edition. Centre: The "Illustrations" for The Cricket on The Hearth in the December 1845 Bradbury and Evans edition. Right: The "Illustrations" for The Haunted Man in the December 1848 Bradbury and Evans edition.
The second in the series, The Chimes, involved five illustrators and six engravers, the latter four illustrators and and four engravers. All five Christmas Books feature the drawings of John Leech and four showcase the engraving skills of the Dalziel brothers, Edward and George. Whereas the Carol had just eight illustrations by a single artist (Leech) and a single engraver (W. J. Linton), the other four Christmas Books (1844 through 1848) typically had over a dozen engravings each, and featured the work of four or more illustrators and engravers each. The publishers were compelled to adopt this expedient of commissioning multiple artists and engravers because Dickens's late submissions of the manuscripts for each of the Christmas Books after A Christmas Carol in the autumn of 1843 often gave them only weeks rather than months to compile the illustrations for books of 175-plus pages each.
The publication history of The Battle of Life is a case in point. According to Michael Slater, in the summer of 1846 Dickens had contracted with Bradbury and Evans to provide the book. However, worrying about Urania Cottage while slaving away at the monthly numbers of the serialised Dombey and Son in the fall of 1846, he had been well out of london; in lausanne, Switzerland. "Dickens managed, after further struggles, to finish the Battle and sent the last section to Forster on 18 October" (262). Thus, Forster cannot have submitted The Battle of Life to the London publishers until the end of October; but subsequently, less than seven weeks later, Bradbury and Evans published the fourth Christmas Book, complete with gold embossed cover and extensive illustration, on 19 December 1846, just in time for the Christmas book trade.
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. The Battle of Life: A Love Story. Illustrated by John Leech, Richard Doyle, Daniel Maclise, and Clarkson Stanfield. Engraved by J. Thompson, Dalziel, T. Williams, and Green. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846 [December 1845].
Hammerton, J. A. III. "Illustrators of the Christmas Books." The Dickens Picture-Book. A Record of the Dickens Illustrators.. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book, 1910. Pp. 11-19. Vol. 17.
Hammerton, J. A. "The Story of this Book." The Christmas Books by Charles Dickens; illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book, 1910. Pp. i-vi. Vol. 8.
Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens. New Haven and London: Yale U. P., 2009.
Created 31 May 2024