"The Ghost of Art" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s fifteenth illustration for Dickens's for "The Old Curiosity Shop" and "Reprinted Pieces" (1867) (original) (raw)

Context of the Illustration: The 'Ghost' Reappears in the Narrator's Rooms

"May I come in?" said he.

I inclined my head, with as much presence of mind as I could command, and he followed me into my chambers. There, I saw that the lower part of his face was tied up, in what is commonly called a Belcher handkerchief. He slowly removed this bandage, and exposed to view a long dark beard, curling over his upper lip, twisting about the corners of his mouth, and hanging down upon his breast.

"What is this?" I exclaimed involuntarily, "and what have you become?"

"I am the Ghost of Art!" said he.

The effect of these words, slowly uttered in the thunder-storm at midnight, was appalling in the last degree. More dead than alive, I surveyed him in silence.

"The German taste came up," said he, "and threw me out of bread. I am ready for the taste now."

He made his beard a little jagged with his hands, folded his arms, and said,

"Severity!"

I shuddered. It was so severe.

He made his beard flowing on his breast, and, leaning both hands on the staff of a carpet-broom which Mrs. Parkins had left among my books, said:

"Benevolence."

I stood transfixed. ["The Ghost of Art," 382]

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. "The Ghost of Art." Household Words. Vol. 17. 20 July 1850.

_______. "The Ghost of Art." The Old Curiosity Shop and Reprinted Pieces. 18 Illustrations by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. XII: 379-83.

Created 7 June 2020

Last modified 20 November 2020