"The paper fluttered from his hand and dropped upon the floor." — Chapter 33. C. S. Reinhart's thirty-fourth illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1875)

The paper fluttered from his hand and dropped upon the floor [Page 177] by Charles Stanley Reinhart (1875), in Charles Dickens's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Harper & Bros. New York Household Edition, for Chapter XXXIIi. 10.6 x 13.6 cm (4 ¼ by 5 ⅜ inches), framed. Running head: "The Letter to Ralph Nickleby" (181). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Passage Illustrated: Nicholas Denounces Ralph's Failure to Protect Kate

"Has the post come in?"

"No."

"Any other letters?"

"One." Newman eyed him closely, and laid it on the desk.

"What’s this?" asked Ralph, taking up the key.

"Left with the letter; — a boy brought them — quarter of an hour ago, or less."

Ralph glanced at the direction, opened the letter, and read as follows:—

"You are known to me now. There are no reproaches I could heap upon your head which would carry with them one thousandth part of the grovelling shame that this assurance will awaken even in your breast.

"Your brother’s widow and her orphan child spurn the shelter of your roof, and shun you with disgust and loathing. Your kindred renounce you, for they know no shame but the ties of blood which bind them in name with you.

"You are an old man, and I leave you to the grave. May every recollection of your life cling to your false heart, and cast their darkness on your death-bed."

Ralph Nickleby read this letter twice, and frowning heavily, fell into a fit of musing; the paper fluttered from his hand and dropped upon the floor, but he clasped his fingers, as if he held it still.

Suddenly, he started from his seat, and thrusting it all crumpled into his pocket, turned furiously to Newman Noggs, as though to ask him why he lingered. But Newman stood unmoved, with his back towards him, following up, with the worn and blackened stump of an old pen, some figures in an Interest-table which was pasted against the wall, and apparently quite abstracted from every other object. [Chapter XXXIII, "In which Mr. Ralph Nickleby is relieved, by a very expeditious Process, from all Commerce with his Relations," 181-182]"

The Situation Described: Nicholas sends his uncle an unflattering epistle via Noggs

Phiz's serial illustration depicts Nicholas's learning of the danger to which Ralph Nickleby has exposed his niece: Nicholas Attracted by the Mention of His Sister's Name in the Coffee-Room (January 1839).

Having learned from a recently received letter that Nicholas is returning to London that very evening, Newman Noggs becomes concerned that the youth will attempt to chastise and even assault Ralph Nickleby for his introducing Kate to his dissipated aristocratic associates Sir Mulberry Hawk and Lord Frederick Verisopht. Consequently, he and Miss La Creevy conspire to keep Nicholas from seeing his sister by agreeing to staying away from home; Miss La Creevy even takes Kate to the theatre for the evening.

Dickensian coincidence, however, has placed Nicholas in the box adjacent to that which the licentious Sir Mulberry Hawk and his dissolute associates have established themselves, bandying about the name of "Little Kate Nickleby." Incensed, Nicholas calls out the haughty aristocrat, and assaults him in the street. Returning to Noggs's, Nicholas writes a letter denouncing Ralph's perfidious behaviour. As the Reinhart illustration intimates, Ralph is deeply moved by the denunciation; his thoughtful reaction implies that he feels the criticism just and, despite his detesting both Mrs. Nicklby and her proud son, he is not without conscience. As in the text, Newman Noggs studies his emkoyer's reaction, even as, back turned towards Ralph, he pretends to be engaged in business arithmetic.

Both Household Edition illustrators have chosen to focus not on Nicholas's apprehension of his sister's situation through an overheard coffee-house conversation (the scene which Phiz described in January 1839). However, whereas Barnard provides a dramatic confrontation of Hawk and Nicholas in the former's carriage, Reinhart shows Hawk's supercilious treatment of the man whom he has wronged.

The British Household Edition's Version of Noggs's developing a plan to protect Nicholas

Above: Fred Barnard's 1875 British Household Editioncomposite woodblock engraving of Newman Noggs's apprehending the trouble into which Nicholas's temper may bring him with Ralph: Lashing himself up to an extravagant pitch of fury, Newman Noggs jerked himself about the room with the most eccentric motion ever beheld in a human being

Related material by other illustrators (1838 through 1910)

Scanned image, colour correction, sizing, caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose, as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Barnard, J. "Fred" (il.). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-nine illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1875.

__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

Created 19 August 2021