"Edith and Mrs. Skewton" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s ninth illustration for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (1867) (original) (raw)

Context of the Illustration

In this manner the Major and Mr Dombey were walking arm-in-arm, much to their own satisfaction, when they beheld advancing towards them, a wheeled chair, in which a lady was seated, indolently steering her carriage by a kind of rudder in front, while it was propelled by some unseen power in the rear. Although the lady was not young, she was very blooming in the face—quite rosy—and her dress and attitude were perfectly juvenile. Walking by the side of the chair, and carrying her gossamer parasol with a proud and weary air, as if so great an effort must be soon abandoned and the parasol dropped, sauntered a much younger lady, very handsome, very haughty, very wilful, who tossed her head and drooped her eyelids, as though, if there were anything in all the world worth looking into, save a mirror, it certainly was not the earth or sky.

"Why, what the devil have we here, Sir!" cried the Major, stopping as this little cavalcade drew near.

"My dearest Edith!" drawled the lady in the chair, "Major Bagstock!" [Ch. 21, "New Faces," p. 164]

Mrs. Skewton in the Original, Household, and Charles Dickens Library Editions (1847-1910)

Left: Phiz's June 1847 illustration for Chapter 28: Mr. Dombey introduces his daughter Florence. Centre: Fred Barnard's more modelled as d realistic version of the drawing-room scene: "Thank you. I have no desire to read it," was her answer (1877). Right: Harry Furniss's impressionistic description of the Edidth's hideous mother: Mrs. Skewton (1910).

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.

_______. Dombey and Son.16 Illustrations by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and A. V. S. Anthony (engraver). The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.

Hammerton, J. A. "Ch. XVI. Dombey and Son." The Dickens Picture-Book. London: Educational Book Co., [1910], 294-338.

Last modified 12 December 2020