"Count Fosco reappears." — headnote vignette illustration by John McLenan for Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White," instalment 37 in <span class="book">Harper's Weekly</span> (4 August 1860)

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Count Fosco reappears.

John McLenan

4 August 1860

10 cm high by 5 cm wide (4 by 2 inches), vignetted, p. 485; p. 230 in the 1861 volume.

The headnote vignette for the thirty-seventh number of Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel in Harper's Weekly (4 August 1860).

The American illustrator effectively captures the foreign gentleman's self-deprecating and ingratiating gesture as he appears ion Marian's doorstep. Behind the jovial veneer lies a threat: he knows where they live, and is quite prepared to strike back at Walter Hartright if the drawing-master sets the law upon him for the death of Anne Catherick and the false imprisonment of Laura.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Count Fosco reappears — staff artist John McLenan's headnote vignette (composite woodblock engraving) for the thirty-seventh weekly part of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel, published on 4 August 1860 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Vol. IV, "The Second Epoch; "The Narrative of Walter Hartright, Resumed. XII," p. 485; p. 230 in the 1861 volume. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage: Fosco appears on the doorstep of the news-vendor's shop.

“He spoke last of you. His eyes brightened and hardened, and his manner changed to what I remember it in past times — to that mixture of pitiless resolution and mountebank mockery which makes it so impossible to fathom him. ‘Warn Mr. Hartright!’ he said in his loftiest manner. ‘He has a man of brains to deal with, a man who snaps his big fingers at the laws and conventions of society, when he measures himself with ME. If my lamented friend had taken my advice, the business of the inquest would have been with the body of Mr. Hartright. But my lamented friend was obstinate. See! I mourn his loss — inwardly in my soul, outwardly on my hat. This trivial crape expresses sensibilities which I summon Mr. Hartright to respect. They may be transformed to immeasurable enmities if he ventures to disturb them. Let him be content with what he has got — with what I leave unmolested, for your sake, to him and to you. Say to him (with my compliments), if he stirs me, he has Fosco to deal with. In the English of the Popular Tongue, I inform him — Fosco sticks at nothing. Dear lady, good morning.’ His cold grey eyes settled on my face — he took off his hat solemnly — bowed, bare-headed — and left me.” [Part 37: "Hartright's Narrative, XII," p. 485; p. 230 in the 1861 volume.]

Related Material

McLenan's full-scale composite woodblock engraving for the thirty-seventh serial number: When he took off his hat with a flourish," etc. for the 4 August 1860 instalment./a>

Fred Walker's poster: The Woman in White for the Olympic's October 1871 adaptation

Bibliography

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. New York: Harper & Bros., 1861 (first printing, 15 August 1860; reissued in single-column format in 1902, 548 pages).

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. Illustrated by John McLenan. Vols. III-IV (26 November 1859 through 8 September 1860).

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Illustrated by F. A. Fraser and Sir John Gilbert. London: Sampson Low, 1860; rpt., Chatto & Windus, 1875.

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Ed. Maria K. Bachman and Don Richard Cox. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert and F. A. Fraser. Toronto: Broadview, 2006.

Peters, Catherine. "Chapter Twelve: The Woman in White (1859-1860)." The King of the Inventors: A Life of Wilkie Collins. London: Minerva Press, 1992. 205-25.

Vann, J. Don. "The Woman in White in All the Year Round, 26 November 1859 — 25 August 1860." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. 44-46.

Created 3 August 2024