"David's Aunt 'Vanishes'" — Furniss's third illustration for Dickens's "David Copperfield" (Charles Dickens Library Edition, vol. X, 1910)

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David's Aunt "Vanishes"

Harry Furniss

1910

13.5 x 9.1 cm (5 ¼ by 3 ½ inches), vignetted

My aunt walked out with her bonnet bent, and vanished like a discontented fairy. — Copperfield, p. 12.

Dickens's The Personal History and Experience of David Copperfield, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, facing X, 16.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Aunt Betsy steps away from the narrative for a considerable time

During the five minutes or so that Mr. Chillip devoted to the delivery of this oration, my aunt eyed him narrowly.

"How is she?" said my aunt, folding her arms with her bonnet still tied on one of them.

"Well, ma’am, she will soon be quite comfortable, I hope," returned Mr. Chillip. "Quite as comfortable as we can expect a young mother to be, under these melancholy domestic circumstances. There cannot be any objection to your seeing her presently, ma’am. It may do her good."

"And she. How is she?" said my aunt, sharply.

Mr. Chillip laid his head a little more on one side, and looked at my aunt like an amiable bird.

"The baby," said my aunt. "How is she?"

"Ma’am," returned Mr. Chillip, "I apprehended you had known. It’s a boy."

My aunt said never a word, but took her bonnet by the strings, in the manner of a sling, aimed a blow at Mr. Chillip’s head with it, put it on bent, walked out, and never came back. She vanished like a discontented fairy; or like one of those supernatural beings, whom it was popularly supposed I was entitled to see; and never came back any more. [Chapter I, "I Am Born," 12]

Commentary: Bad Fairy or Woman of Independent Means and Mind?

Miss Betsey Trotwood is not precisely a curdmugeon, for she is capable of deep sympathy, even though she does not suffer rogues such as Uriah Heep kindly. Dickens's description of her as a disconcerted fairy contributes to the novel's stereotypes and use of fairytale patterns, but fails to do justice to a middle-aged woman of unwavering mind and rigorous morality. Miss Trotwood's chief feature is not a nutcracker face or a crotchety disposition, but an independent cast of mind. Miss Trotwood (otherwise, Aunt Betsey) is far more than a conventional old maid wearing an age-appropriate "mob-cap" fastened under the chin and a long, white apron over a lavender dress, as we see her in Chapter XIII, "The Sequel of My Resolution." The quaint cottage that Furniss has borrowed directly from Phiz's opening illustration again suggests a witch's quaint gingerbread abode, but it is Clara Copperfield's retreat from the world rather than the home of the child-eater in the woods from "Hansel and Gretel." Furniss shows her as stern featured and upright in carriage, suggesting perhaps a judgmental nature.

Other Views of Aunt Betsey Trotwood (1851-1910)

Left: Phiz's November 1850 steel engraved Frontispiece: Betsey Trotwood at the Cottage Window (Chapter I, "I Am Born"). Centre: Felix Octavius Carr Darley's frontispiece for Vol. 2 of he Sheldon and Company Household Edition (1863): Janet. Donkeys!. Right: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition study of the Aunt Bestey and her peculiar friend: Miss Trotwood and Mr. Dick (1867).

Left: Fred Barnard's 1872 engraving of Aunt Betsey's checking yet another invasion of the donkeys in her garden, The Battle on the Green, featuring the Murdstones. Right: Kyd's Player's Cigarette Card No. 36 (lithograph from watercolour): Aunt Betsey Trotwood (1910). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Relevant Illustrations for this Novel (1849 through 1910)

Hablot Knight Browne's Frontispiece (November 1850 double-number)
Hablot Knight Browne's Title-page Vignette: The Peggotty House-boat (Nov. 1850)
Hablot Knight Browne's Monthly Wrapper, No. XV (July 1850)
Hablot Knight Browne's Title-page, Vol. 1 (1858)
Hablot Knight Browne's Title-page, Vol. 2 (1858)
O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 1, 1863)
O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 2, 1863)
Sir John Gilbert's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 3, 1863)
O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 4, 1863)
Fred Barnard: Uncaptioned Tail-piece (1872)
Fred Barnard: Title-page and vignette (1872)
Clayton J. Clarke (Kyd): David Copperfield (1910)

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield, illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Centenary Edition. London & New York: Chapman & Hall, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911. 2 vols.

_______. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. V.

_______. David Copperfield, with 61 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. III.

_______. The Personal History and Experiences of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. X.

Hammerton, J. A., ed. The Dickens Picture-Book: A Record of the the Dickens Illustrations. London: Educational Book, 1910.

Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978.

Created 3 March 2022