"Kit, His Mother, Jacob, and the Baby" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s fourth illustration for Dickens's "The Old Curiosity Shop" (1867)

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Kit, His Mother, Jacob, and the Baby

Sol Eytinge, Jr.

1867

Wood-engraving

9.9 x 7.4 cm (framed)

Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop & Reprinted Pieces (Diamond Edition), facing XII, 55.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Context of the Illustration: Kit's Domestic Circumstances

"Bless us!" cried a woman turning sharply round, "who’s that? Oh! It’s you, Kit!"

"Yes, mother, it’s me."

"Why, how tired you look, my dear!"

"Old master an’t gone out to-night," said Kit; "and so she hasn’t been at the window at all." With which words, he sat down by the fire and looked very mournful and discontented.

The room in which Kit sat himself down, in this condition, was an extremely poor and homely place, but with that air of comfort about it, nevertheless, which — or the spot must be a wretched one indeed — cleanliness and order can always impart in some degree. Late as the Dutch clock showed it to be, the poor woman was still hard at work at an ironing-table; a young child lay sleeping in a cradle near the fire; and another, a sturdy boy of two or three years old, very wide awake, with a very tight night-cap on his head, and a night-gown very much too small for him on his body, was sitting bolt upright in a clothes-basket, staring over the rim with his great round eyes, and looking as if he had thoroughly made up his mind never to go to sleep any more; which, as he had already declined to take his natural rest and had been brought out of bed in consequence, opened a cheerful prospect for his relations and friends. It was rather a queer-looking family: Kit, his mother, and the children, being all strongly alike. [Chapter X, 54-55]

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop and Reprinted Pieces. 18 Illustrations by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. XII.

Last modified 20 November 2020