An Edwardian's View of Dickens and His Illustrators

Harry Furniss's 'A Sketch of Boz'

Gareth Cordery

Publication Year: 2005

Harry Furniss (1854–1925) was a well-known if somewhat abrasive figure in English literary, artistic and political circles during the half century either side of 1900. In March 1905, at the invitation of the Dickens Fellowship, he delivered in London’s Memorial Hall a platform lecture on Dickens and his illustrators, “A Sketch of Boz,” illuminated by some sixty magic lantern slides. Over the next two years Furniss toured the provinces with an enlarged version of this lecture. An Edwardian’s View of Dickens and His Illustrators is an edited and annotated transcription of the unpublished manuscript of this engaging lecture, together with the original illustrations, some of which are Furniss’s own. Few complete texts of oral lectures have survived and, coming from the pen (and pencil) of a professional book illustrator and keen Dickensian, “A Sketch of Boz” is an important document in the culture of Edwardian England. Professor Cordery’s substantial introduction discusses how the lecture sheds light on a number of fields: Dickens’s reputation and that of his illustrators in the early twentieth century; the cultural significance of the platform lecture; the changing style of illustration and caricature; the commercial and ideological exploitation of Dickens at the turn of the century. He summarizes the main illustrators surveyed by Furniss and includes more than 170 annotations. The book thus engages a variety of readers interested in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British literature and culture.

Published by: ELT Press

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This book is a transcription, edited and annotated, of an unpublished manuscript, “A Sketch of Boz,” also known as “Charles Dickens—His Art, His Artists, and His Admirers,” the text of an illustrated lecture given by Harry Furniss, initially to the Dickens Fellow ship at the Memorial Hall, London, on 1 March 1905. Over...

Acknowledgments

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pp. xii-

Introduction

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pp. 1-22

Harry Furniss (1854–1925) was a well-known if some what abrasive figure in English literary, artistic and political circles during the half century either side of 1900. Today he is almost forgotten, his reputation resting largely upon his caricatures of politicians (especially of Glad stone with his famous winged collars) that...

Illustrators in Context

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pp. 25-35

After each illustrator’s dates the page numbers for Furniss’s discussion are given and unreferenced quotations in the entries are to these pages. The entries are intended to provide the back ground for a fuller appreciation of Furniss’s discussion of...

A Sketch of Boz. Charles Dickens— His Art, His Artists, and His Admirers

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pp. 36-90

I have a confession to make. I have lost my Sketch of Boz! I did not leave it in a train, or in a motor, or in a tup penny tube, or in a cab on my way here this eve ning. I lost it many years be fore the days of mo tors and tuppenny tubes. I lost it many years before I lost my hair, I lost it the year Charles Dickens died, the same year when, at the...

Appendix: Two Illustrated Letters

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pp. 91-92

Notes

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pp. 93-107

Works Cited

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pp. 108-111

In dex

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pp. 112-116

E-ISBN-13: 9780944318317
Print-ISBN-13: 9780944318201
Print-ISBN-10: 0944318207

Page Count: 128
Illustrations: 69 line drawings
Publication Year: 2005

Series Title: 1880-1920 British Authors Series, No. 20