"Punctual to your time, sir." by W. L. Sheppard. Twenty-eighth illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter XXXI, "The Opening of the Eyes of Mrs. Chick," p. 173. Page heading: "Mrs. Chick finds her confidence has been abused." 9.3 x 13.7 cm (3 ¾ by 5 ⅜ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: James Carker congratulates the bride-groom
Phiz's July 1847 illustration of the Dombeys returning home from their marriage ceremony: Coming Home from Church.
Now enters Mr. Carker, gorgeous likewise, and smiling like a wedding-guest indeed. He can scarcely let Mr. Dombey’s hand go, he is so congratulatory; and he shakes the Major’s hand so heartily at the same time, that his voice shakes too, in accord with his arms, as it comes sliding from between his teeth.
“The very day is auspicious,” says Mr. Carker. “The brightest and most genial weather! I hope I am not a moment late?”
“Punctual to your time, Sir,” says the Major.
“I am rejoiced, I am sure,” says Mr. Carker. “I was afraid I might be a few seconds after the appointed time, for I was delayed by a procession of waggons; and I took the liberty of riding round to Brook Street” — this to Mr. Dombey — “to leave a few poor rarities of flowers for Mrs. Dombey. A man in my position, and so distinguished as to be invited here, is proud to offer some homage in acknowledgment of his vassalage: and as I have no doubt Mrs. Dombey is overwhelmed with what is costly and magnificent;” with a strange glance at his patron; “I hope the very poverty of my offering, may find favour for it.” [Chapter XXXI, "The Wedding," 182]
Commentary: Carker flatters his employer
Fred Barnard's 1877 Household Edition illustration In a firm, free hand the bride subscribes her name in the register.
In Chapter 31 Dickens describes the wedding day of Paul Dombey and Edith Granger. He casts a slight note of gloom on his description of the progress of the day. Although she looks beautiful, Edith smolders with resentment that she has been "purchased" by the merchant-prince. Sitting on one side of the composition, bulging out of his suit jacket, the fatuous Major Bagstock insists in the accompanying text on making Dombey feel superior to his bride: "there is not a woman in Europe but might . . . and would give her ears, and her ear-rings, too, to be in Edith Granger's place" (182). Although Sheppard cannot show the colours, he focusses on the smartness of Dombey's wedding attire: a "new blue coat, fawn-colored pantaloons, and lilac waistcoat" (181). The final figure rounding out the group in Dombey's upstairs drawing-room is the aristocratic Cousin Feenix.
Sheppard has failed to make Carker as "gorgeous" as his employer, and he fails too to show Carker's perpetual smile as bows to the aloof, elegantly attired Dombey. Now that the last member of the groom's wedding party has arrived at Dombey's, they can depart for the church in a barouche.
Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son (1846-1910)
- Hablot Knight Browne's 40 original serial steel engravings for the serial (October, 1846, through April, 1848)
- Dombey and Son (homepage)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 1, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 2, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 3, 1862)
- Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
- Fred Barnard's 61 Illustrations for the British Household Edition (1877)
- The Harper and Brothers & Chapman and Hall Household Editions
- Harold Copping's seven illustrations for Mary Angela Dickens's Children's Stories from Dickens (1893)
- W. H. Ç. Groome's illustrations of the Collins Pocket Edition of Dombey and Son (1900, rpt. 1934)
- Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Card watercolours (1910)
- Harry Furniss's 29 illustrations for the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned it and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard. The Household Edition. 18 vols. New York: Harper & Co., 1873.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1862. Vols. 1-4.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [62 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.
__________. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880. II.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. IX.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.
__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). The Clarendon Edition, ed. Alan Horsman. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974.
Created 11 February 2022