"Is it like Kit — is it his picture, his image, his very self?" — Chap. LXII by Charles Green. 1876. 10.8 cm high by x 13.7 cm wide. Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop, thirty-third illustration in the British Household Edition, IV: 228. Running head: "Mr. Swiveller Going Out of Office" (229). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Context of the Illustration: Quilp and "Judas" Brass Triumphant
"Do you know it?" said the dwarf, watching Sampson’s eyes. "Do you see the likeness?"
"Eh?" said Brass, holding his head on one side, and throwing it a little back, as connoisseurs do. ‘Now I look at it again, I fancy I see a — yes, there certainly is something in the smile that reminds me of — and yet upon my word I —"
Now, the fact was, that Sampson, having never seen anything in the smallest degree resembling this substantial phantom, was much perplexed; being uncertain whether Mr. Quilp considered it like himself, and had therefore bought it for a family portrait; or whether he was pleased to consider it as the likeness of some enemy. He was not very long in doubt; for, while he was surveying it with that knowing look which people assume when they are contemplating for the first time portraits which they ought to recognise but don’t, the dwarf threw down the newspaper from which he had been chanting the words already quoted, and seizing a rusty iron bar, which he used in lieu of poker, dealt the figure such a stroke on the nose that it rocked again.
"Is it like Kit — is it his picture, his image, his very self?" cried the dwarf, aiming a shower of blows at the insensible countenance, and covering it with deep dimples. "Is it the exact model and counterpart of the dog — is it — is it — is it?" And with every repetition of the question, he battered the great image, until the perspiration streamed down his face with the violence of the exercise. [Chapter LXII, 228]
Related Resources
- Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop — Some Discussions
- The Old Curiosity Shop Illustrated: A Team Effort by "The Clock Works."
- Kyd's Characters from Dickens (1889)
Scanned image 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 Old Curiosity Shop. Illustrated by Charles Green. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876. XII.
Created 8 May 2020
Last modified 22 November 2020