"Fosco has to deal with the sad news." — John McLenan's uncaptioned headnote vignette for the twenty-sixth weekly number of Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White" in <span class="book">Harper's Weekly</span> (19 May 1860)

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Fosco has to deal with the sad news.

John McLenan

19 May 1860

10.1 cm high by 5.6 cm wide (4 by 2 ⅛ inchess), vignetted.

Uncaptioned headnote vignette for the twenty-sixth weekly number of Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel (19 May 1860), 309; p. 168 in the 1861 volume.

[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

The illustration may suggest that Fosco feels guilty about having precipitated Laura's death by spiriting her away from Blackwater Park. However, since he seems pensive rather than sad, he may be anxious about the success of his scheme to substitute the sickly Anne Catherick for the heiress, Lady Glyde.

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.

Fosco has to deal with the sad news. — staff artist John McLenan's headnote vignette (composite woodblock engraving) for the twenty-fifth weekly part of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel, published on 19 May 1860 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, "The Narrative of of Hester Pinhorn, Cook in the Service of Count Fosco," p. 309; p. 168 in the 1861 volume.

Passage Illustrated: Fosco responds to the news of Laura's death from an aneurism

How master bore the news, when he first heard it, is more than I can tell, not having been present. When I did see him he looked awfully overcome by it, to be sure. He sat quiet in a corner, with his fat hands hanging over his thick knees, and his head down, and his eyes looking at nothing. He seemed not so much sorry, as scared and dazed like, by what had happened. My mistress managed all that was to be done about the funeral. It must have cost a sight of money—the coffin, in particular, being most beautiful. The dead lady’s husband was away, as we heard, in foreign parts. But my mistress (being her aunt) settled it with her friends in the country (Cumberland, I think) that she should be buried there, in the same grave along with her mother. Everything was done handsomely, in respect of the funeral, I say again, and master went down to attend the burying in the country himself. He looked grand in his deep mourning, with his big solemn face, and his slow walk, and his broad hatband — that he did! [Part 26: "The Narrative of of Hester Pinhorn, Cook in the Service of Count Fosco," p. 293; p. 168 in the 1861 volume.]

Related Material

McLenan's regular, full-scale illustration for the twenty-fifth weekly number in serial: "Laura, Lady Glyde, was standing by the inscription, and was looking at me over the grave" for 19 May 1860
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., 1860.

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. Illustrated by John McLenan. Vols. III-IV (16 November 1859 through 8 September 1860).

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. Pp. 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. Pp. 44-46.

Created 20 July 2024