In 1848, when the first cheap edition of the story appeared, Hablôt Browne made four new designs as "Extra Illustrations" for "The Old Curiosity Shop," viz., Little Nell and her Grandfather, the Marchioness, Barbara, and the Death of Little Nell. They were beautifully engraved in stipple, and issued as an independent publication by the artist and his coadjutor, Robert Young, whose joint venture it was. In the following year they produced a similar set of four plates illustrating "Barnaby Rudge," viz., Emma Haredale, Dolly Varden, Mrs. Varden and Miggs, and Hugh and Barnaby. The portraits of the various characters were engraved by Edwards and Knight, under the superintendence of Browne and Young. The original drawing of Dolly Varden, one of "Phiz's" happiest conceptions, is in the possession of Her Grace the Duchess of St. Albans, together with an unengraved study for Emma Haredale. There are extant, in Mr. J. F. Dexter's collection, two other studies for the Dolly Varden plate, neither of which has been reproduced; the same gentleman also owns the drawings of Nell and Barbara, the latter being slightly different from, and superior to, the engraving.
A complete series of original water-colour drawings by "Phiz" for "The Old Curiosity Shop" and "Barnaby Rudge," including an unused design for a tailpiece, were sold at Sotheby's in 1897, and realised £610. These drawings were executed as a commission for Mr. F. W. Cosens.
Martin Chuzzlewit, 1843-44.Browne's versatile pencil was again actively employed in embellishing the story begun by Dickens soon after his return from America in 1842, and to this he contributed forty etchings. Here the figures are drawn on a larger scale than usual, thus affording more scope for the delineation of character.
The frontispiece is a most elaborate design, representing the principal characters and incidents in the story, with Tom Pinch at the organ as a central idea. In the illustration where Mark Tapley is seen starting from his native village for London, "Phiz" exhibits his sense of the picturesque in the old gables and dormers of the ancient tenements in the background, while that depicting "Mr. Pecksniff on his Mission" is an excellent verisimilitude of such a locality as Kingsgate Street of fifty years since. But the etching in "Chuzzlewit" which may be described as the artist's happiest effort as a comic creation is that where Mrs. Gamp "propoges" a toast. Here he has admirably illustrated the text,—the two midwives in friendly chat, surrounded by bandboxes and other accessories, while behind are seen the immortal Sarah's rusty gowns, which, depending from the bedposts, "had so adapted themselves by long usage to her figure, that more than one impatient husband, coming in precipitately at about the time of twilight, had been for an instant stricken dumb by the supposed discovery that Mrs. Gamp had hanged herself."
All the designs for "Martin Chuzzlewit" were etched on quarto plates, two on each plate. Five of these plates were etched three times, these including, besides the frontispiece and vignette title, the first six illustrations in the book, and two which appeared in the fourteenth number, viz., "Mr. Pinch Departs to Seek his Fortune," and "Mr. Nadgett Breathes, as Usual, an Atmosphere of Mystery." A careful examination of different copies of the first edition will disclose minute variations in these particular illustrations, worthy of special mention being the vignette title, where, in the earliest impressions, the £ mark is incorrectly placed after the figures in the amount of reward on the bill.
In the majority of the "Chuzzlewit" etchings there is a vigour and precision of touch indicating the artist's riper experience. It must, however, be admitted that a few of the plates are so feeble in execution in comparison with the rest as to suggest that "Phiz's" drawings were copied on the plate by a less expert etcher. An instance of this poverty of execution will be found in the first design, depicting "The Meekness of Mr. Pecksniff and his Charming Daughters," and the fact that this plate is unsigned seems significant; in reply to my enquiry respecting it, Mr. Robert Young assured me that "no one ever copied or etched plates for Browne; he traced the subject on the steel himself, and etched every line before it was bitten in. I know no reason for the omission of his signature to any of his plates."
In a few instances the artist has not strictly followed the text. For example, in the plate where Mr. Pecksniff calls upon Mrs. Gamp, the pie-shop is placed next door, whereas it is clearly described as being next door but one. In the etching of Mark Tapley "finding a jolly subject for contemplation," instead of Mark's name being inscribed in full upon the "Rowdy Journal" door, his initials only should appear, "in letters nearly half a foot long, together with the day of the month in smaller type;" the four horses harnessed to the coach in which Tom Pinch departs to seek his fortune ("Phiz's" horses, by the way, are always well drawn) are described as "greys," while in the plate only one is thus represented. Such discrepancies, however, although interesting to note, are unimportant. As usual, we find in the accessories (such as the titles of books and pictures) sly touches of humour peculiarly àpropos of the principal theme. "Phiz's" design for the wrapper of the monthly parts is emblematical of the story; here "silver spoons" and "wooden ladles," as embodied in the original title, play a conspicuous part.
The "Chuzzlewit" drawings, all of which have been preserved, are executed in pencil, some having washes of neutral tint. They vary but slightly from the etchings, the greatest differences being noted in the first two designs, this doubtless arising from the difficulty experienced by the artist in immediately seizing the author's meaning. In one special instance Dickens favoured his illustrator with very precise instructions. Respecting the American scenes, the artist desired more details than usual, so he received from the novelist the following letter (now in Mr. J. F. Dexter's collection), giving particulars for the plate representing "The Thriving City of Eden, as it appeared in Fact."
"Martin and Mark are displayed as the tenants of a wretched log hut (for a pattern whereof see a vignette brought by Chapman & Hall) in a perfectly flat, swampy, wretched forest of stunted timber in every stage of decay, with a filthy river running before the door, and some other miserable log houses distributed among the trees, whereof the most ruinous and tumble-down of all is labelled 'Bank and National Credit Office.' Outside their door, as the custom is, is a rough sort of form or dresser, on which are set forth their pot and kettle and so forth, all of the commonest kind. On the outside of the house, at one side of the door, is a written placard, 'Chuzzlewit and Co., Architects and Surveyors,' and upon a stump of tree, like a butcher's block, before the cabin, are Martin's instruments—a pair of rusty compasses, &c. On a three-legged stool beside this block sits Martin in his shirt sleeves, with long dishevelled hair, resting his head upon his hands—the picture of hopeless misery—watching the river and sadly remembering that it flows towards home. But Mr. Tapley, up to his knees in filth and brushwood, and in the act of endeavouring to perform some impossibilities with a hatchet, looks towards him with a face of unimpaired good humour, and declares himself perfectly jolly. Mark, the only redeeming feature. Everything else dull, miserable, squalid, unhealthy, and utterly devoid of hope—diseased, starved, and abject. The weather is intensely hot, and they are but partially clothed."