"Uncaptioned headpiece for Chapter One: The first Mrs. Dombey dies" — third illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

Uncaptioned headpiece for Chapter One: The first Mrs. Dombey dies by W. L. Sheppard. Third illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter I, "Dombey and Son," page 7. 10.5 x 13.4 cm (4 ⅛ by 5 ¼ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Context of the Illustration

The lady lay upon her bed as he had left her, clasping her little daughter to her breast. The child clung close about her, with the same intensity as before, and never raised her head, or moved her soft cheek from her mother’s face, or looked on those who stood around, or spoke, or moved, or shed a tear.“Restless without the little girl,” the Doctor whispered Mr Dombey. “We found it best to have her in again.”

“Can nothing be done?” asked Mr Dombey.The Doctor shook his head. “We can do no more.”

The windows stood open, and the twilight was gathering without.

The scent of the restoratives that had been tried was pungent in the room, but had no fragrance in the dull and languid air the lady breathed.

There was such a solemn stillness round the bed; and the two medical attendants seemed to look on the impassive form with so much compassion and so little hope, that Mrs. Chick was for the moment diverted from her purpose. But presently summoning courage, and what she called presence of mind, she sat down by the bedside, and said in the low precise tone of one who endeavours to awaken a sleeper:

“Fanny! Fanny!”

There was no sound in answer but the loud ticking of Mr Dombey’s watch and Doctor Parker Peps’s watch, which seemed in the silence to be running a race. [Chapter I, "Dombey and Son," pp. 10-11]

Commentary: Dombey the Social Isolate

Kyd's Player's Cigarette Card portrait of the unemotional merchant: Mr. Dombey (Card no. 42, 1910).

Sheppard sets the keynote for the novel by depicting Paul Dombey, Senior, as a social isolate as his first wife dies. Fanny, the first wife of Dombey and mother of both Florence and Paul, dies in the opening chapter shortly after giving birth to Paul. Dickens describes her as meek and docile, but in the text as in the illustration she shows great love to her daughter in her final moments. Her sudden death is the story's initiating incident because it compels the widower to hire a wet-nurse for the newborn. Sheppard presents Fanny as the subject of the group's deep concern and Florence's affection, and Dombey as stunned, introverted, and alone as he contemplates the newborn child in his crib.

The illustration as a headpiece for the opening chapter immediately establishes the situation that Dickens will develop. The thirty-eight-year-old merchant-prince, Paul Dombey, Senior, has no sooner welcomed the birth of a son and heir to the trading company than he must face the very real possibility that his wife will die of childbed fever, unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence in nineteenth-century Britain and America. Although Sheppard has not "darkened" the room, Mr. Dombey occupies his "great arm-chair," a domestic throne of dubious value if his chief subject and domestic manager dies. Already, however, the newborn has been moved away from the mother's bedside, doubtless so that the attending physician with the prestigious West End practice, Doctor Parker Peps, and his associate, the Dombeys' family practitioner, Mr. Pilkins, can better examine the patient. Two physicians in attendance cannot be a good sign. The lady in lavish Victorian curls seated beside the bed is Paul Dombey, Senior's, sister, Louisa.

Relevant Illustrations from Other Editions (1846-1912)

Left: Phiz's illustration for the opening chapters emphasizes Dombey's isolation and his discomfort at having been left in charge of two young children: The Dombey Family (October 1846). Right: Eytinge's frontispiece, Dombey and Son (1867).

Left: Fred Barnard's British Household Edition illustration for the opening chapters, A thorough contrast in all respects to Mr. Dombey (1877). Right: Harry Furniss's frontispiece emphasizes the father-son relationship, Dombey and Son (1910).

Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son (1846-1924)

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 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.

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880. Vol. 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. 9.

__________. 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.

"Dombey and Son — Sixty-two Illustrations by Fred Barnard." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, Being Eight Hundred and Sixty-six Drawings by Fred Barnard, Gordon Thomson, Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz), J. McL. Ralston, J. Mahoney, H. French, Charles Green, E. G. Dalziel, A. B. Frost, F. A. Fraser, and Sir Luke Fildes. London: Chapman and Hall, 1907.

Created 24 December 2021