Dickens's "Little Nell and her Grandfather resting at the roadside" by Harold Copping (1900) (original) (raw)

Passage Illustrated: Nell and her Grandfather take to the road to Escape Quilp

They journeyed on, when the time came that they must wander forth again, by pleasant country lanes; and as they passed, watching the birds that perched and twittered in the branches overhead, or listening to the songs that broke the happy silence, their hearts were tranquil and serene. But bye-and-bye they came to a long winding road which lengthened out far into the distance, and though they still kept on, it was at a much slower pace, for they were now very weary and fatigued. [Mary Angela Dickens et al., "Little Nell and Her Grandfather," Children's Stories from Dickens, 138]

Fitzgerald's Commentary: "The Super-Children" of Dickens's Imagination

The premier children — the "super-children," as Mr. Shaw would have it — in whose case Boz exercised all his power, and which rank in the very first place, were of course, Little Nell and Little Dombey, also the pathetic, little, lame Tiny Tim. These portraits are of the most affecting kind, the reason perhaps being that they were drawn out of his own soul. Not only was Boz the introducer of these children, but he was also the creator of the most popular type — that is, of the heroic, tender-hearted, self-sacrificing, affectionate child. . . . And yet these are, all the time, in Elia's happy words, Dream Children, lent from the beyond: spiritualised and yet accepted; imperfect, as real as living. Alas, we do not meet, nor are we likely to meet, Little Nells or Paul Dombeys or Tiny Tims. They are the true Dream Children. [Percy Fitzgerald, "Dickens's Dream Children," Children's Stories from Dickens, pp. 9-10]

Other Illustrations of Little Nell and Grandfather Trent (1840-1910)

Left: The style of the leading member of the team of illustrators, Cattermole, was ideally to the subject of the atmospheric, slightly menacing interior of the London antique shop that gives the Dickens's fourth novel its title, The door being opened, the child addressed him as her grandfather (Part 1: 25 April 1840). Right: Copping's earlier line-drawing provides little background for the Trents as they escape from London and the odious dwarf Daniel Quilp, who has designs upon Little Nell: Little Nell and her Grandfather (1893).

Left: The Darley frontispiece for the first volume in the James G. Gregory edition "Do I love thee, Nell," said he; "say I do love thee, Nell, or not?" (1861). Centre: Kyd's Player's Cigarette Card, no. 22, Nell (1910). Right: George Cattermole's woodblock engraving of Nell's comforting her grandfather in the shop: "Mr. Daniel Quilp, having entered unseen, was looking on with his accustomed grin." (20 June 1840).

Various Artists' Illustrations for Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop (1841-1924)

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop in Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by Phiz, George Cattermole, Samuel Williams, and Daniel Maclise. 3 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1841; rpt., Bradbury and Evans, 1849.

Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop. Ed. Angus Easson. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.

Dickens, Mary Angela, Percy Fitzgerald, Captain Edric Vredenburg, and Others. Illustrated by Harold Copping with eleven coloured lithographs. Children's Stories from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1893.

Matz, B. W., and Kate Perugini; illustrated by Harold Copping. Character Sketches from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1924. Copy in the Paterson Library, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Fitzgerald, Percy, and Mary Angela Dickens; illustrated by Harold Copping. Dickens' Dream Children. London: Raphael Tuck, 1900.

Created 10 October 2023