"The Exterior of the Old College" by Clarkson Stanfield — Plate 11 from "The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain" (1848)

The Exterior of the Old College, wood engraving by Clarkson Stanfield (engraver, T. Williams). 1848. Dimensions: 6.6 cm by 7.7 cm (3 by 2 ½ inches), framed. Dickens's The Haunted Man, "Chapter Two: The Gift Diffused," 105. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Context of the Illustration: Longford Living Arrangements

Clarkson Stanfield's second plate is enclosed by textual description of the same scene, above and below. As in Tenniel's double-plate, the figure of Redlaw is distinguished by his large (seventeenth-century Puritan) hat. The mood of the scene is sombre and tranquil, the white of the snow on the roof contrasting picturesquely with the shadowed portions of the courtyard. The scene depicted is actually several pages further on in the text, for it involves both Redlaw and the Boy. Seen as a series, Stanfield's plates are moving us from the limits of human habitation (the lighthouse) towards the centre of urban civilisation, not merely the metropolis or the university, but the extended family of his final offering, The Christmas Party in the Great Dinner Hall (page 188). The skeletal trees (left), the shadows, and the night sky impart an appropriate gloominess as Redlaw's "gift" continues to be diffused.

Patten's Assessment of the Old College as a Psychological Backdrop

For Redlaw may still have a key to other forms of inside and out, such as sacred and profane spaces, minds containing memories of empty of then, external forces that act or do not on interior psyches . . . . Clarkson Stanfield's image of the snow-covered courtyard of the old foundation extends, brilliantly, his string of images of light versus dark. Here the dark night, with moonlight on snowy roofs and yard, dark windows below, a dark church tower in the background, and a dark sundial that will become "animated" in the third chapter. Almost darkest of all are the two small figures at the center: Redlaw and the boy. That the buildings of the educational institution are gray — and all the effects are, as mentioned before, the effect of ink on paper — suggests, perhaps, that it is not wholly overshadowed by the Phantom's influence. The wood engraving is particularly well carved by T. Williams. [261-262]

Stanfield's Other Landscape and Architectural Illustrations

Illustrations for The Haunted Man (1848-1912)

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

Cohen, Jane Rabb. "John Tenniel." Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio U. P., 1980.

Dickens, Charles. The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain. Illustrated by John Leech, John Tenniel, Frank Stone, and Clarkson Stanfield. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1848.

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

Dickens, Charles. The Christmas Books. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. VIII.

Dickens, Charles. The Christmas Books. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867.

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

Patten, Robert L. Chapter 10, "Bargain Haunters." Dickens, Death, and Christmas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. 234-275. [Review]

Solberg, Sarah. "'Text Dropped into the Woodcuts': Dickens's Christmas Books." Dickens Studies Annual 8 (1980): 103-118.

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

Created 29 December 2004

Last modified 7 June 2024