The Library of Fiction, 1836.Like Seymour, Buss was associated with Dickens in connection with that ephemeral work, "The Library of Fiction." Besides "The Tuggses at Ramsgate," the novelist wrote for its pages a paper called "A Little Talk about Spring and the Sweeps," containing an illustration drawn by Buss and engraved on wood by John Jackson, who, it will be remembered, introduced the artist to Chapman & Hall. This short tale was reprinted in the first complete edition of "Sketches by Boz," 1839, under the title of "The First of May," with an etching by Cruikshank depicting an incident differing entirely from that which forms the subject of Buss's woodcut.
Plate XXVI
DOLLY VARDEN
From an Original Water-colour Drawing by R. W. BUSS
Lent by the Rev. A. J. Buss.
As a painter of humorous scenes and historical events, Buss gained considerable popularity. From 1826 to 1859 he contributed nearly every year subject-pictures and portraits to the Exhibitions of the Royal Academy, Suffolk Street Gallery, and British Institution, and among his numerous canvases (many of which have been engraved) may be mentioned:—Humorous—"The Biter Bit," "The March of Intellect," "The Monopolist," "An Unexpected Reception," "Soliciting a Vote," "Chairing the Member," "Mob Tyranny," "The Mock Mayor of Newcastle-under-Lyme." Historical—"The Introduction of Tobacco by Sir Walter Raleigh," "James Watt's First Experience with Steam," "Hogarth at School," "Chantrey's First Essay in Modelling," "Nelson's First Victory over the French Fleet." The artist was also occasionally inspired by Shakespeare and Dickens, and it is specially interesting to note that he painted at least three pictures of scenes in the novelist's works, viz., "Joe Willet Taking Leave of Dolly Varden" (from "Barnaby Rudge"), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844, and now in a South Australian public picture-gallery; "The Cricket's Chirp" (Peerybingle, Dot, and Tilly Slowboy, from "The Cricket on the Hearth," Chirp the First), exhibited at Suffolk Street, 1846; and a representation of Trotty Veck peeping into the basket containing his dinner of tripe which his daughter brings him. In an album of studies and notes for his pictures (arranged by the artist for preservation as an heirloom) may be found several sketches for the first-named subject, and in addition to these are two small water-colour drawings, oval in form, of scenes in "Dombey and Son," representing "Mr. Dombey more Magnificent than Usual," and "Captain Cuttle visited by Florence Dombey," the latter being especially well rendered. Whether these have ever been engraved I am unable to say, but the probability is they have not. Curiously enough, the last picture on Buss's easel purported to represent "A Dream of Dickens." This unfinished canvas (still in the possession of a member of the artist's family) contains a portrait of the novelist seated in his study, with visions of scenes from his various works around him. The portrait is adapted from the well-known photograph by Watkins, while the incidents depicted are taken from the original illustrations.
Although Buss's large picture of "Christmas in the Olden Time" proved, for the artist, a financial failure, it benefited him in being the means of introducing him to Charles Knight (perhaps the most enterprising publisher of that day), who, recognising in the young painter a diligent student of manners and customs, engaged his services on the Pictorial Edition of Shakespeare's Works, "Old England," the Penny Magazine, and Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," all of which were issued under Knight's auspices. The Rev. A. J. Buss well remembers his father making these drawings on wood blocks, which were engraved by Jackson, Sly, and others, and recalls that, some years after, he obtained a commission from Mr. Hogarth, a printseller, to execute some Christmas subjects for reproduction by line-engraving.
After 1854 Buss's pictures were for some reason excluded from the Royal Academy Exhibitions, and this so seriously affected the sale of his work that he was compelled to have recourse to teaching drawing as a means of supplementing a precarious income. As early as 1843 he had issued circulars announcing a course of lessons in drawing on Dupin's method, having previously purchased many expensive models, and rented a room in Duke Street, Grosvenor Square; but all in vain, for not a single pupil was forthcoming! He then prepared a series of lectures on English Comic and Satiric Art, which he delivered in London and the chief provincial towns in England, these being illustrated by large diagrams.