"Solomon Pell and his Clients" — Harry Furniss's fortieth regular illustration for Dickens's "Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" (1910) (original) (raw)

Subtitle

"Well, gentlemen," said Mr. Pell, "all I can say is, that such marks of confidence must be very gratifying to a professional man." — Pickwick, page 792.

Passage Illustrated: Lawyer Solomon Pell and a Room full of Coachmen

"Well, gentlemen," said Mr. Pell, "all I can say is, that such marks of confidence must be very gratifying to a professional man. I don’t wish to say anything that might appear egotistical, gentlemen, but I'm very glad, for your own sakes, that you came to me; that's all. If you had gone to any low member of the profession, it's my firm conviction, and I assure you of it as a fact, that you would have found yourselves in Queer Street before this. I could have wished my noble friend had been alive to have seen my management of this case. I don’t say it out of pride, but I think — However, gentlemen, I won’t trouble you with that. I'm generally to be found here, gentlemen, but if I’m not here, or over the way, that’s my address. You’ll find my terms very cheap and reasonable, and no man attends more to his clients than I do, and I hope I know a little of my profession besides. If you have any opportunity of recommending me to any of your friends, gentlemen, I shall be very much obliged to you, and so will they too, when they come to know me. Your healths, gentlemen." [Chapter LV, "Mr. Solomon Pell, assisted by a Select Committee of Coachmen, arranges the Affairs of the Elder Mr. Weller," page 792]

Relevant Chapman & Hall (1836) and Household Edition (1873) illustrations

The scene depicted twice by Phiz (1837 and 1873), but not by the American satirical cartoonist Thomas Nast, occurs after the sudden death of Sam Weller's "mother-in-law" (stepmother) and Tony's coming into a substantial property in consequence. Compare the 1837 steel engraving to Phiz's 1873 woodcut of the same narrative moment in the first volume of Chapman and Hall's Household Edition ( 393): "The mottled-faced gentleman [the central coachman, back to viewer, as in the 1837 original] reviewed the company, and slowly lifted his hand." In his 1910 re-working of these earlier illustrations, Furniss places Tony and Sam in prominent positions: Sam raises his glass higher than the heads of Tony and his three fellows. Furniss injects a note of delight into Pell's facial expression. The illustration, incidentally, has been positioned in the chapter following that in which Dickens describes the jolly meeting, when Sam and Tony propose that Pickwick act as trustee on their behalf in managing the investments resulting from the demise of Susan Weller.

Above: Phiz revises his approach to the comic moment only slightly, but changes the orientation of the plate to permit showing more background detail in The mottled-faced gentleman reviewed the company, and slowly lifted his hand! (em>See page 388.) in the 1874 Household Edition, engraved by one of the Dalziels. Right: In Phiz's original November 1837 serial illustration, Tony Weller and his burly colleagues toast Mr. Pell's business acumen: Tony Weller and his Friends Drinking to Mr. Pell. [Click on these images to enlarge them.]

Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Pickwick Papers. Illustrated by Robert Seymour and Hablot Knight Browne. London: Chapman & Hall, 1836-37.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 16 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 4.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 5.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

Created 31 July 2019

Last modified 6 February 2020