The Bibliomania of the Golden Dustman — Marcus Stone's first April 1865 illustration for "Our Mutual Friend"

The Bibliomania of the Golden Dustman

Marcus Stone

Wood engraving by Dalziel

14.4 cm high x 9.4 cm wide

Stone's illustration for Book 3, "A Long Lane," Chapter 5, "The Golden Dustman Falls into Bad Company" in Charles Dickens's Our Mutual friend dramatises Boffin's apparent obsession with acquiring stories of misers' lives, which he purchases without regard to 'size, price or quality' (406), providing that the volume concerns "Anecdotes of strange characters, Records of remarkable individuals." In fact, his "mania" is part of a calculated plan to show Bella Wilfer the folly of her materialism — and the value of the faithful John Rokesmith. Standing next to Mr. Boffin, "The Golden Dustman," at a sidewalk bookstall in Stone's illustration is Bella, a juxtaposition which implies that the moment realised is this, even if the books that the pair wish to examine are in a stall rather than the window of a bookshop:

[See below for commentary and passage illustrated.]

The moment she pointed out any book as being entitled Lives of eccentric personages, Anecdotes of strange characters, Records of remarkable individuals, or anything to that purpose, Mr. Boffin's countenance would light up, and he would instantly dart in and buy it. Size, price, quality, were of no account. Any book that seemed to promise a chance of miserly biography, Mr. Boffin purchased without a moment's delay and carried home. Happening to be informed by a bookseller that a portion of the Annual Register was devoted to 'Characters,' Mr. Boffin at once bought a whole set of that ingenious compilation, and began to carry it home piecemeal, confiding a volume to Bella, and bearing three himself. The completion of this labour occupied them about a fortnight. When the task was done, Mr. Boffin, with his appetite for Misers whetted instead of satiated, began to look out again.

It very soon became unnecessary to tell Bella what to look for, and an understanding was established between her and Mr Boffin that she was always to look for Lives of Misers. Morning after morning they roamed about the town together, pursuing this singular research. Miserly literature not being abundant, the proportion of failures to successes may have been as a hundred to one; still Mr. Boffin, never wearied, remained as avaricious for misers as he had been at the first onset. It was curious that Bella never saw the books about the house, nor did she ever hear from Mr. Boffin one word of reference to their contents. He seemed to save up his Misers as they had saved up their money. As they had been greedy for it, and secret about it, and had hidden it, so he was greedy for them, and secret about them, and hid them. But beyond all doubt it was to be noticed, and was by Bella very clearly noticed, that, as he pursued the acquisition of those dismal records with the ardour of Don Quixote for his books of chivalry, he began to spend his money with a more sparing hand. And often when he came out of a shop with some new account of one of those wretched lunatics, she would almost shrink from the sly dry chuckle with which he would take her arm again and trot away. It did not appear that Mrs. Boffin knew of this taste. He made no allusion to it, except in the morning walks when he and Bella were always alone; and Bella, partly under the impression that he took her into his confidence by implication, and partly in remembrance of Mrs. Boffin's anxious face that night, held the same reserve. [406-407]

The physical setting, which Dickens does not specify, is a busy London street — as one may see by the carriages, multi-storey buildings, and church spire in the background. Such is the verisimilitude that Stone may have used an actual street scene as the basis for the illustration, but could not have been the Portebello Road Market, which began in the late 1860s. Logically, the urban setting is either Cheapside, near St. Paul's (site of many publishing houses since the Renaissance), or the Strand, to which London's booksellers were gravitating in the middle of the nineteenth century.

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.]

References

Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Il. Marcus Stone. Volume 14 of the Authentic Edition. London: Chapman and Hall; New York: Charles Scribners' Sons, 1901.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark and Facts On File, 1998.

Roberts, William. The Book-Hunter in London. Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1895.

Last modified 21 June 2011