"Trotty in the Bell Chamber" — Green's fourteenth illustration for "The Chimes"

Trotty in the Bell Chamber by Charles Green (p. 81). 1912. 7.5 x 9.9 cm. Dickens's The Chimes, Pears Centenary Edition, in which the plates have often captions that are different from the titles in the "List of Illustrations" (p. 15-16). Specifically, Trotty in the Bell Chamber has a lengthy caption that is different from the title in the "List of Illustrations"; the textual quotation that serves as the caption for this illustration of Trotty's losing consciousness in the bell tower of the old church is "Giddy, confused, and out of breath, and frightened, Toby looked about him vacantly, and sunk down in a swoon" ("Second Quarter," p. 81 — the passage realised is over the page, as the last line of the capter, on page 82). The equivalent illustration in the 1844 first edition of the novella is Richard Doyle's scene dropped into the text at the beginning of "The Third Quarter," Trotty Veck among the Bells ("Third Quarter," p. 92), in which the protagonist is both mesmerized and traumatized by the visions shown him by the Spirits of the Bells. Green's interpretation notably lacks any suggestion of the supernatural. The gloomy chamber is filled with the great wheels that control the swinging of the bells, two of which are evident at the crossing of the beams in the shadows. Thus, the artist realistically lays the groundwork for the final revelation that most of the next two "Quarters" are nothing but a dream, in contrast to the rather more fanciful interpretations of the original team of artists, E. A. Abbey, and Harry Furniss.

Passage Illustrated

This was the belfry, where the ringers came. . . . A heavy sense of dread and loneliness fell instantly upon him, as he climbed into this airy nest of stone and metal. . . . Giddy, confused, and out of breath, and frightened, Toby looked about him vacantly, and sunk down in a swoon. ["Second Quarter," pp. 82, 1912 edition]

Illustrations from the first edition (1844), the American Household Edition (1876), and the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)

Left: Clarkson Stanfield's scene of Trotty entering the doorway of the Old Church, with the lantern of St. Dunstan's-in-the-West above, The Old Church. Right: Harry Furniss's study of Trotty's confronting the goblins of the bells, Trotty in the Belfry.

Above: E. A. Abbey's 1876 wood-engraving of Trotty's encountering the terrifying supernatural dimension of the bell tower, What Trotty saw in the Belfry.

Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Chimes. Introduction by Clement Shorter. Illustrated by Charles Green. The Pears' Centenary Edition. London: A & F Pears, [?1912].

Dickens, Charles. The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells That Rang An Old Year Out and a New Year In. Illustrated by John Leech, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stanfield, and Daniel Maclise. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1844.

Dickens, Charles. Christmas Books. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1878.

Dickens, Charles. Christmas Books. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book, 1910.

_____. Christmas Stories. Illustrated by E. A. Abbey. The Household Edition. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1876.

Solberg, Sarah A. "'Text Dropped into the Woodcuts': Dickens' Christmas Books." Dickens Studies Annual 8 (1980): 103-18.

Thomas, Deborah A. Dickens and The Short Story. Philadelphia: U. Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

Welsh, Alexander. "Time and the City in The Chimes." Dickensian 73, 1 (January 1977): 8-17.

Last modified 7 April 2015