Writing to the editor of the Daily News (December 30, 1882), Dr. Edgar A. Browne, the artist's son, says: "Dickens's delight in the ['Dombey'] illustrations as a whole was, as a matter of fact, very great, and was expressed (doubtless with some characteristic exaggeration) so forcibly, that my father gave him the original designs, which were acknowledged in the following letter:—
"'Devonshire Terrace, Thirteenth June, 1848.
"'My Dear Browne,—A thousand thanks for the Dombey sketches, which I shall preserve and transmit as heirlooms.
"'This afternoon, on Thursday, I shall be near the whereabout of the boy in the flannel gown, and will pay him an affectionate visit. But I warn you now and beforehand (and this is final, you'll observe) that you are not agoing to back out of the pigmental finishing said boy; for if ever I had a boy of my own that boy is
MINE,
and, as the demon says at the Surrey,
'I CLAIM MY VICTIM,'
HA! HA! HA!!at which you will imagine me going down a sulphurous trap, with the boy in my grasp—and you will please not to imagine him merely in my grasp, but to hand him over.
"'For which this is your warrant and requirement.
(Signed) Charles Dickens.
"'Witness—William ╋ Topping,
His groom.'"
The allusion to "the boy in the flannel gown" has reference to a portrait of Little Paul, painted by "Phiz" as a present to Dickens. Miss Hogarth informs me, however, that she has no recollection of this picture, nor of the "Dombey" sketches.
"Phiz," as usual, designed the pictorial wrapper for the monthly parts, concerning which Dickens wrote: "I think the cover very good; perhaps with a little too much in it, but that is an ungrateful objection." The criticism was justified, however, for the design, though ingeniously conceived, certainly errs on the side of over-elaboration.
The success attending the sale of the extra plates for "Master Humphrey's Clock" encouraged a repetition of this form of independent publication, and a similar series of portraits were produced of the principal characters in "Dombey and Son." Four capital plates, consisting of portraits of Little Paul, Florence, Edith, and Alice, were designed by Browne, and engraved on steel (in stipple and line) by Edwards and Knight, under the superintendence of the artist and Robert Young, whose joint venture it was. The engravings were published with Dickens's sanction concurrently with the story; the original impressions are now very scarce, but the plates still exist in good condition, and have recently been reprinted. Dickens was much pleased with these delightful portraits, and in a hitherto unpublished letter to the artist (dated January 5, 1847) he thus referred to the drawings: "I think Paul very good indeed—a beautiful little composition altogether. The face of Florence strikes me as being too old, particularly about the mouth. Edith, not so handsome as in the little drawings, and something too long and flat in the face. The better Alice of the two, decidedly that which is opposite Edith." There are extant as many as six pencil-sketches for the portrait of Alice, presenting slight variations in pose and expression, and Mr. Dexter owns an interesting study (in pencil and red chalk) of Florence Dombey, which has never been engraved.
Almost simultaneously with the production of the above portraits, "Phiz" designed and etched eight additional plates containing full-length presentments of Mr. Dombey and Carker, Mrs. Skewton, Old Sol and Captain Cuttle, Miss Tox, Mrs. Pipchin, Major Bagstock, Miss Nipper, and Polly Toodle. This undertaking was entirely a speculation of the artist, the plates being also issued in sets by Chapman & Hall. Dr. Browne informs me that the original drawings were unexpectedly discovered by him, rolled up and dirty, and were afterwards included in the Memorial Exhibition of his father's works at the Liverpool Art Club in 1883.
The first cheap edition of "Dombey and Son," 1858, includes a frontispiece by "Phiz," representing the flight of Carker. The artist also contributed to each of the two volumes of the Library Edition (1858-59) specially-designed vignettes, engraved on steel, the subjects being Mr. Dombey and the second Mrs. Dombey, and Paul with Florence at the seaside.
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