"Mr. Pickwick" — Harry Furniss's final illustration for Dickens's "Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" (1910)

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Mr. Pickwick

Harry Furniss

1910

13.7 cm x 9 cm, vignetted

Dickens's Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, facing II, 816.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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The Context of This Portrait of the Studious Pickwick in his Orchard

"The house I have taken," said Mr. Pickwick, "is at Dulwich. It has a large garden, and is situated in one of the most pleasant spots near London. It has been fitted up with every attention to substantial comfort; perhaps to a little elegance besides; but of that you shall judge for yourselves. Sam accompanies me there. I have engaged, on Perker’s representation, a housekeeper — a very old one — and such other servants as she thinks I shall require. I propose to consecrate this little retreat, by having a ceremony in which I take a great interest, performed there. I wish, if my friend Wardle entertains no objection, that his daughter should be married from my new house, on the day I take possession of it. The happiness of young people," said Mr. Pickwick, a little moved, ‘has ever been the chief pleasure of my life. It will warm my heart to witness the happiness of those friends who are dearest to me, beneath my own roof." [811]

Mr. Pickwick himself continued to reside in his new house, employing his leisure hours in arranging the memoranda which he afterwards presented to the secretary of the once famous club, or in hearing Sam Weller read aloud, with such remarks as suggested themselves to his mind, which never failed to afford Mr. Pickwick great amusement. He was much troubled at first, by the numerous applications made to him by Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Winkle, and Mr. Trundle, to act as godfather to their offspring; but he has become used to it now, and officiates as a matter of course. He never had occasion to regret his bounty to Mr. Jingle; for both that person and Job Trotter became, in time, worthy members of society, although they have always steadily objected to return to the scenes of their old haunts and temptations. Mr. Pickwick is somewhat infirm now; but he retains all his former juvenility of spirit, and may still be frequently seen, contemplating the pictures in the Dulwich Gallery, or enjoying a walk about the pleasant neighbourhood on a fine day. He is known by all the poor people about, who never fail to take their hats off, as he passes, with great respect. The children idolise him, and so indeed does the whole neighbourhood. Every year he repairs to a large family merry-making at Mr. Wardle’s; on this, as on all other occasions, he is invariably attended by the faithful Sam, between whom and his master there exists a steady and reciprocal attachment which nothing but death will terminate. [Chapter LVII, "In which the Pickwick Club is finally dissolved, and Everything concluded to the satisfaction of Everybody," 816-17]

Commentary: An Aged Pickwick in retirement at Dulwich

Furniss's orginal caption: Employing his leisure hours in arranging the memoranda which he afterwards presented to the secretary of the once famous club. — Pickwick 816

Furniss's ultimate illustration concerns the comfortable retirement of businessman Samuel Pickwick, waited upon by Sam and Mary Weller at his new house in Dulwich, whereas Dickens's final paragraphs bring readers up to date on the fates and fortunes of Mr. and Mrs. Winkle, Mr. and Mrs. Snodgrass, Mr. Tupman, Bob Sawyer, Mrs. Bardell, and Tony Weller. Although Furniss foregrounds an aged, greying Pickwick at his little table of books and notes set out in an orchard, he has sketched in Mary and Sam Weller with their offspring in the rear of the scene, as if to suggest that their fates have become intertwined, although Samuel Pickwick remains the principal. Given the age of the three children, the reader can calculate how long after Pickwick’s release from the Fleet Dickens has taken us: the "two sturdy little boys” whom Sam holds are approximately two, and Sam did not marry Mary until two years had elapsed. Furniss has added an infant that Dickens does not mention, adding to the blessing that the Victorians regarded children as being. Dickens indicates that Mr. Pickwick "is somewhat infirm now" (816), a fact which Furniss demonstrates by placing a walking stick within easy reach for Pickwick. Furniss has probably used this realistic character study of the retired Pickwick to respond to one of Phiz's final engravings for the 1836-37 serial, the frontispiece, in which the earlier illustrator depicts Sam and his master in a whimsically Gothic frame.

Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910

Relevant Chapman & Hall (1836) and Household Edition (1873-74) illustrations

Left: The elegant frontispiece that Phiz provided as one of the final serial illustrations which shows Pickwick and Sam editing the clubs papers (November 1837). Right: Phiz's original November 1837 steel-engraving, winding up the novel with a rollicking scene that does involve Pickwick in sedate seclusion, Mr. Weller and his friends drinking to Mr. Pell.

Above: The concluding illustration for the 1874 Household Edition, in which Dickens and Phiz resolve the romantic plot involving Nathaniel Winkle and Arabella Allen: The words were scarcely out of the old gentleman's lips, when footsteps were heard ascending the stairs.

Nast's Concluding Illustration: An Uncaptioned Tailpiece (1873)

Nast in his final illustrations does not deal with the multiple romances, but emphasizes Mr. Pickwick, noted for his benevolence, being greeted by the people of Dulwich and attended by the ever-faithful Sam as he wanders through the village in Uncaptioned Tail-piece (1873).

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Pickwick Papers. Illustrated by Robert Seymour and Hablot Knight Browne. London: Chapman & Hall, 1836-37.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 16 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 4.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 5.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

Created 27 November 2019

Last modified 6 February 2020