The Relationship of George Cruikshank and Charles Dickens
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"All-of-a-Twist" -- The relationship of George Cruikshank and Charles Dickens The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Cohen, Jane R. 1969. "All-of-a-Twist" -- The relationship of George Cruikshank and Charles Dickens. Harvard Library Bulletin XVII (2), April 1969: 143-168. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37363758 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA "All-of-a-Twist": the Relationship of George Cruikshank and Charles Dickens• ]11ueR. Cohen i,i,--• HE absenee of any significant ,vork on the history of Dic- kensian il lustra ti on ::i.nd its rel a ti on to public response to the novclist"'s,vork is surprising~ The lack of a modern life of his .first illustrator is astonishing in an age, as ~~da Nisbet 1 observes,, ,vhen bi ographcrs '' dredge for minno,vs~JJ Any history of Dickensian illustration must begin ,vith -an =accountof the HJllustrious George" Cruikshank. A central concern of Ull)T biographer of the artist must be his Jong relationship ,vith (:harlcs Dickens~ ,vhich ,vas curiously hut distinctly bipartite~ their literary,. socia.l, and theatrical association from 1835 to 1850; and their gradual dissociation in all three spheres frorn 1850 to their deaths in the 187o's. In I 8 38- 1839, at the height of his po,v~rs a.s,vell -asof his co1labora- tion ,vith Dickcnsj Cruikshank published three particularly memorable ii lustra ti ons. Jt js cl ear in retrospect that despite th cir diff ercn t con- texts, the artist created the criminal F ~gin> the convivial Lord Bate- 1nan, and the various 1ne1nbcrsof the genus Nobody in his u\vn phy·sical and psycho]ogical image. At th is ti me the th rce characters pc-aceably reflected facets of Cruikshank's o\vn nature. Early in his relationship ,vith Dickens, the artist postured as an eccentric Lord Bateman. After 1850, ,vhen the author,s fame ,vas assured ,vhile the artist see1ned to be b econ1ing a Nobody, Cruikshank increasingly rcse1nblcd a Fa gin,. ,v ho made I)icken s the villain of the piece. By the 1 8 7o's their rela ... tionship ,vas indeed, to borro,v \\latts Phillips' pun, "AU-of-a-T,vist.,, • All cit a.dons to tho work of Char 1cs Dickcns 1 Robert Seynlour, and G corge Cruiks:h ~nk gjven parcnthcticg.11 y in the text ref er to their location in Tb e N onesuc b Dickens, ed. Arthur ,vaugh. Hugh \Valpole, Walter Dexter, and Thonn.s Hatton (Bloomsbury, 1938). When rdcvantt the original date and place of publication are supplied in a separa.te f ootnotc. :i. Ada Nisuet., "Charles Dickenst Victorian Fiction) ed. Lionel Stevenson ( Can1- bridge, J\1ass.i 1964}1-p~ 70.. Blanchard Jcrrold'!i. Tbe Life of George Cruikshank (Lon- don, 1882) remains the only fu11-sca1e account of the artist~ · . .1 Watts Phillips, Letter to Dr~ Ord, 3 1 December 187 3, f acslm iled in E [ mrna] ] 69 Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XVII, Number 2 (April 1969) H«rVrrrdf_jhrary B11lleti'i1. !vfcmorabie ,vas the day· in October 18 3 5 ,vhen liins,vorth's pub- lisher, A1acrone, told Boz his .sketches \vere of ~~cnpitalvalueH and should be co11ccted and pub]ishcd in a v0Jnn1e \vhich n1ight he illus- trated by George Crujkshank.c~ The onetime c1nploycc of "\~larrcn's Blacking, for ,vhon1 the ubiquitous artist had n1adc sonic ,voodcnt 4 advertisements l ,vas u ndcrstand ably--exhilarated. 2'Jear Iy a decade earlier Christopher North had dubbed C...rnikshank''Prince of Cari- caturists. ,i In I 8 33 1\1acHsehad included the artist, seated on a beer barre] sketching on the cro,vn of his 11:ir,in Fraser's 1'Gallery of Illus- trious Literary Charactcrsh lsee Plate I]. a Sterling ,vas to call hiin Hthc Raphael of Cockney--dom.',7 Yet Dickens n1aintained Hno one appre- ciates'' Cruikshank's talents Has highly· as 1nyself..''8 Cruikshank,s preen1incn cc in the fi.cld of book illus~ra ti on in th c 1 8 3o s \,-as .so unchall en ge d that the presence of his name on a title- pagc -a}one guaranteed a large sale. In 2.grcei ng to i 11ustrate S kc t cf.Jes by Boz, Cruikshank ucc.ordcd the novice ,vritcr his first real distinc~ tion. A,vare that the ,vork ,vas ''then a condescension'' fur the artist,9 ,;\ 7 atts Philiips, lfT atts Pbillips: Artis! and Playwright (Londont 1891 ), f~c. p. I 03. The w r kc.r 1 n1nking fun of the pain suft'ered in hi~ Je gsi •hardly relie,Ted by the pre- :scribed opi u1nt si gncd h in1sclf: ,iT he only pu pj l of G eorgc Crookshanks, n e\v edi- tion of All-of-a-1.\1,.~ist,'1 alluding no~ only to the effect of his jllness, but to the contro,rcrsy, \Vhid 1 c uhnjna_tc d t this tin1e, about ,vh ether D j or Cruiksh ~nk orjginatcd Olivi:r Ttt.vist. fl Quoted in Edgar Johnson~ Charles Dic.ke11r:l{fr Ttagl:dy and Triu-;11pb(Ne,v York, r951.), I, 104, Sec ~Jso pjJgdm (footnote St belo,v), I, 79 and So note 2., C;nhcri o e I{ ogirth [r 2 2 October 18 3; J. \ViHiam 1\1akepe.:tccThackcr~y 1 Vanity Fair, ed. Geoffrey and l{ath1een Til- Jotson (Bo~--roni 1963 ) , p. io7 note, Christopl,cr North [Jobn \VflsonJ, ~tNocte.s A1nbrosia11ae,No. XXIX,'' B!ack- 1 W(!(Jd' s1 XX ( ]',.,tovcrr1 Lcr 182-6)., 78 i. Sec sti n ca r}j c r praise by Scott s biograph er 1 [John G. Loe kha rt], LG eorge Cru ikshan k/' 11lackwo od,sI XIV ( J 1Jiy I 8 2 3), r 8-2 6. 11 Reproduced in Fraser's Af agazineI v·1 l I (August 18 33 ) , f ac+ r 90. Sec n]so por- t..rnit by Frank Stone in George Cruiksh1nk's 01J1nibur (1\1ay 1841 ), 11 reproduced in George Son1es L-ayard1 George Cntiksba11k's Portraits of Hhusdf (London 1 18r;q)t p. 23. 7 Quoted in Caroline f'ox 1 Atc~uoriesof Old Friends: 183r-1871 (Philade1phfo., 1884), p. 144. .aThe Pilgrim Edi don of Tb e Letters of C bar!cs Di c kensl ed. 1\1adetine House and Graham Storey ( ()xford, 1965-), of ·which only ono vohnnc. has ~ppcarccl -at the !j rn e of ,vr frj ng (referred to hereafter as pj lgrimi I)• 89i J\.·f!lc.ronct [ 7 N O\-+crn Ler 18,5 ). "George Cruj ksh~ n k, n { anonT obit+) T be T b11es.,No. 19,,r 40 ( :2 .F ebrua:rr 187 8)., 9• Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XVII, Number 2 (April 1969) H All-of-a-Twist'' Dickens suggested to l\1acrone that a more .suitably ~"modest', title might he~ Sketches by Boz and Cuts by Cruikshank or Etchings by Boz and \~ 1ood Cuts by Cruikshank 10 Forced by a nevispaper assigntnent to p.ostponesatisfying his '~long cherished ,vish'' to n1cct the artist in pcrson/ 1 Dickens did not meet Cruiksh3nk until 1 7 N ove1nbcr 183 5.. Despite differcnc-cs in age 2nd reputation~ the nvo .shared many cxpcricnccst attin1des, and interests. Both began their careers as journalists; both remained recorders of the London scene ,vith ,vhosc physical and social topography they ,vere intin1atcly acquainted. Neither brought any f orn1-al training to his chosen occupation but r;:tther an unrelenting n1orul and social con- .sciousness.The t\VO men loved the theatre and in1bued their O-\vn work ,vith an uninhibited sense of dra1na+ Both even shared an interest in ani1nal magnetis111 ,,rhich deepened v,.:riththeir friendship \Vith Dr. Elliotson~ the physician to Forster) Thackcra)T~ nnd \\ 7ilkic Collins.1~ At his first meeting \v·ith the artistt ho\vever, Dickens ,vas preoccupied h)7 the ,vork at hand and gratified by the artises pledge that "as far as he is concerned) the book shall be out hy Christmas ,vi thout fail.') 1 a The veteran should have knu\.v11,vhat the neophyte could not:· the difficulty of coordinating their efforts , vith those of the publisher and printer to produce ,vithout error or dela)T an illustrated volume in little more than a n1onth~ Misunderstandings inevitably arose. When Dickens reg uested a 1ist of intended iUustrations, Cruikshank ~cribbled faces of a human and a devil at the bottom of the letter be- fore nns,vering it~H The artist then complained to l\1acronc that he 1to Pilgrin1~1 1 8:2) Macronet [? 27 October l 835]. 11 Pl1gd1n1 I, 89, 1t1acrone, (7 Nove111ber 1835 J. · 1.:1 See Pilgr im 1 I, 461 and note 1 , Cru iksha nkt [? :24 N ovembe.r 1 8 3B] and 4801 Cruiksh anl{ :1- [ :28 December 1 8 38] . u Pilgrjm, IJ 94, A1.acron~., [ 18 November ·1835J.. · · · ;u Pilgrim 1 It 1 oo and note 2.1 Cruikshank, [30 November ·i 83 5J . Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XVII, Number 2 (April 1969) r72 Harvard.Library Bulletin ,vasbeing pressed for i11ustrationsbefore receiving the entire 111-anu...