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Dickens and His Illustrators. Frederic George Kitton
Читать онлайн.Название Dickens and His Illustrators
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isbn 4064066236182
Автор произведения Frederic George Kitton
Жанр Языкознание
Издательство Bookwire
Further publicity was bestowed upon the subject in a letter contributed to the Athenæum of March 24, 1866, by Seymour's son, who not only repeated the principal arguments adduced by the pamphlet, but promised further particulars in a subsequent communication. Whereupon Dickens, rightly considering that the opportunity had now arrived for emphatically repudiating the whole story, forwarded the following letter for publication in the ensuing number of the Athenæum:—
"As the author of 'The Pickwick Papers' (and of one or two other books), I send you a few facts, and no comments, having reference to a letter signed 'R. Seymour,' which in your editorial discretion you published last week.
"Mr. Seymour the artist never originated, suggested, or in any way had to do with, save as illustrator of what I devised, an incident, a character (except the sporting tastes of Mr. Winkle), a name, a phrase, or a word, to be found in 'The Pickwick Papers.'
"I never saw Mr. Seymour's handwriting, I believe, in my life.
"I never even saw Mr. Seymour but once in my life, and that was within eight-and-forty hours of his untimely death. Two persons, both still living, were present on that short occasion.
"Mr. Seymour died when only twenty-four [twenty-six] printed pages of 'The Pickwick Papers' were published; I think before the next three or four [afterwards corrected to "twenty-four"] were completely written; I am sure before one subsequent line of the book was invented."[11]
[Here follows the account of Mr. Hall's interview with the novelist, as given in the Preface of the 1847 edition, and the letter thus continues:]
"In July 1849, some incoherent assertions made by the widow of Mr. Seymour, in the course of certain endeavours of hers to raise money, induced me to address a letter to Mr. Edward Chapman, then the only surviving business-partner in the original firm of Chapman & Hall, who first published 'The Pickwick Papers,' requesting him to inform me in writing whether the foregoing statement was correct."
A few days later Dickens wrote to his eldest son a letter in which he says:—
"There has been going on for years an attempt on the part of Seymour's widow to extort money from me by representing that he had some inexplicable and ill-used part in the invention of Pickwick!!! I have disregarded it until now, except that I took the precaution some years ago to leave among my few papers Edward Chapman's testimony to the gross falsehood and absurdity of the idea.
"But, last week, I wrote a letter to the Athenæum about it, in consequence of Seymour's son reviving the monstrosity. I stated in that letter that I had never so much as seen Seymour but once in my life, and that was some eight-and-forty hours before his death.
"I stated also that two persons still living were present at the short interview. Those were your Uncle Frederick and your mother. I wish you would ask your mother to write to you, for my preservation among the aforesaid few papers, a note giving you her remembrance of that evening—of Frederick's afterwards knocking at our door before we were up, to tell us that it was in the papers that Seymour had shot himself, and of his perfect knowledge that the poor little man and I looked upon each other for the first and last time that night in Furnival's Inn.
"It seems a superfluous precaution, but I take it for the sake of our descendants long after you."[12]
The "few papers" here alluded to were destroyed before the novelist's death, with the exception of Edward Chapman's confirmatory letter. Needless to say, both Mrs. Charles Dickens and Frederick Dickens entirely corroborated the novelist's assertions respecting his own share and that of Seymour in the origin of "Pickwick."
In concluding this account of a most unpleasant controversy, we may reasonably surmise that had not Seymour communicated his idea to Chapman, "Pickwick" would never have been written. The proposal for a book similar in character certainly emanated from the artist, and in this sense he was, of course, the originator of that work, while to him also belongs the honour of inventing, pictorially, the portraits of the Pickwickians. But it was "Boz, glorious Boz," who vitalised the happy conception, by imparting thereto such prodigality of fun and so much individuality that "The Pickwick Papers" at once leaped into fame, and, as all the world knows, was received with acclamation by every section of the public.
The Library of Fiction, 1836.Coincident with the publication of the first monthly number of "The Pickwick Papers," there appeared the initial part of a new serial called "The Library of Fiction," which, under the editorship of Charles Whitehead, was launched by the same publishers. Whitehead, whose name has already been mentioned in connection with "Pickwick," became acquainted with Dickens at the time the latter was writing "Sketches by Boz," which he so much admired that he endeavoured to persuade the young author to contribute something of a similarly striking character to the projected "Library of Fiction." Dickens consented, and we find that his amusing little story, entitled "The Tuggses at Ramsgate," constitutes the opening paper. Several of the articles and tales in "The Library of Fiction" were illustrated, and it is interesting to note that Dickens's contribution to the first part was embellished with two designs by Robert Seymour, engraved on wood by Landells. It is generally considered that Seymour's woodcut illustrations are by far the best specimens of his talent, and the engravers of that day were exceedingly happy in reproducing the delicacy of touch and brilliancy of effect which distinguished the drawings made by him direct upon the blocks.
Seymour's first design represents the Tuggs family and their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Captain Waters, on the sands by the seaside, and it is interesting to learn that the fat man seated on a chair in front is said to be a portrait of the artist, as he appeared during the latter part of his life. The second illustration, depicting the incident of the irate Captain Waters discovering Mr. Cymon Tuggs behind the curtain, also formed the subject of George Cruikshank's etching for the little story when it was reprinted in the first edition of "Sketches by Boz," published about some three years later, and, in comparing the separate designs, we find that they are almost identical, except that the two prominent figures in the etching are in reverse of those in the woodcut.
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