"Dr. Birch." — Harry Furniss on "Doctor Birch and His Young Friends" (1911)

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Dr. Birch

Harry Furniss

1911

15 cm high by 9.2 cm wide (6 by 3 ¾ inches), vignetted

Dr. Birch

Doctor Birch and His Young Friends, facing p. 145.

Furniss's cartoonish treatment of the pedant accentuates his bulging eyes and his censorious gaze.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: The Imperious Master of Doctor Birch's Academy, Rodwell Regis

Jack Birch (Rev. J. Birch, of St. Neot's Hall, Oxford,) is partner with his father the Doctor, and takes some of the classes. About his Greek I can't say much; but I will construe him in Latin any day. A more supercilious little prig, (giving himself airs, too, about his cousin, Miss Baby, who lives with the Doctor,) a more empty pompous little coxcomb I never saw. His white neckcloth looked as if it choked him. He used to try and look over that starch upon me and Prince the assistant, as if we were a couple of footmen. He didn't do much business in the school; but occupied his time in writing sanctified letters to the boys' parents, and in composing dreary sermons to preach to them.["The Doctor and His Staff," 145]

Comment

William Makepeace Thackeray published the illustrated novella Our Street under the pseudonym "M. A. [Michael Angelo] Titmarsh" with Chapman and Hall in 1848. This third Furniss illustration in Christmas Books (1911) realizes "Jack Birch's glum condescension" (145). A student's cartoon of the master as a donkey has apparently raised his ire.

"Illustration and Irony — Thackeray's Christmas Books."

Bibliography

Furniss, Harry. Dr. Birch. Illustration for Doctor Birch and His Young Friends. William Makepeace Thackeray's Christmas Books. With illustrations by the author and Harry Furniss. The Harry Furniss Centenary Edition. London: Macmillan and Co., 1911. Pp. 143-204.

Created 13 July 2022