Dickens and His Illustrators. Frederic George Kitton
alt="Bill Sikes in the Condemned Cell"/>
In 1872 Cruikshank issued a pamphlet entitled "The Artist and the Author, a Statement of Facts," where he positively asserted that not only was he the actual originator of "Oliver Twist," but also of many of Harrison Ainsworth's weird romances; that these authors "wrote up to his suggestions and designs," just as Combe did with regard to "Dr. Syntax" and Rowlandson's previously-executed illustrations. In another published letter, dated more than a year prior to that printed in the Times, the artist emphatically declared that the greater part of the second volume of "Sketches by Boz" was written from his hints and suggestions, and he significantly added, "I am preparing to publish an explanation of the reason why I did not illustrate the whole of Mr. Dickens's writings, and this explanation will not at all redound to his credit." Indeed, so thoroughly was he imbued with this conviction, that on April 20, 1874, in responding to a vote of thanks accorded him by the Mayor of Manchester for an address on Intemperance, he reiterated his statement relative to the origin of "Oliver Twist." The Mayor having referred to the artist's designs in Dickens's novels, Cruikshank intimated that the only work of the novelist he had illustrated was "Sketches by Boz"; his worship remarked, "You forget 'Oliver Twist,'" whereupon Cruikshank replied, "That came out of my own brain. I wanted Dickens to write me a work, but he did not do it in the way I wished. I assure you I went and made a sketch of the condemned cell many years before that work was published. I wanted a scene a few hours before strangulation, and Dickens said he did not like it, and I said he must have a Jew or a Christian in the cell. Dickens said, 'Do as you like,' and I put Fagin, the Jew, into the cell. Dickens behaved in an extraordinary way to me, and I believe it had a little effect on his mind. He was a most powerful opponent to Teetotalism, and he described us as 'old hogs.'"[4]
Unfortunately for Cruikshank's claim to the origin of "Oliver Twist," he allowed more than thirty years to elapse before making it public. When questioned on this point he would say that ever since these works were published, and even when they were in progress, he had in private society, when conversing upon such matters, always explained that the original ideas and characters of these works emanated from him! Mr. Harrison Ainsworth has recorded that Dickens was so worried by Cruikshank putting forward suggestions that he resolved to send him only printed proofs for illustration. In a letter to Forster (January 1838) the novelist wrote, alluding to the severity of his labours: "I have not done the 'Young Gentleman,' nor written the preface to 'Grimaldi,' nor thought of 'Oliver Twist,' or even supplied a subject for the plate," the latter intimation sufficiently indicating that Dickens was more directly concerned in the selection of suitable themes for illustration than Cruikshank would have us believe. The author of "Sketches by Boz" abundantly testified in those remarkable papers that his eyes, like Cruikshank's, had penetrated the mysteries of London; indeed, we find in the "Sketches" all the material for the story of poor Oliver, where it is more artistically and dramatically treated. It is not improbable, of course, that from Cruikshank's familiarity with life in the Great City he was enabled to offer useful hints to the young writer, and even perhaps to make suggestions respecting particular characters; but this constitutes a very unimportant share in the production of a literary work. To what extent the interchange between artist and author was carried can never be satisfactorily determined; but of this there can be no doubt, that Cruikshank's habit of exaggeration, combined with his eagerness in over-estimating the effect of his work, led him (as Mr. Blanchard Jerrold remarks) "into injudicious statements or over-statements," which were sometimes provocative of much unpleasant controversy. It is, however, no exaggeration to say that the pencil of George Cruikshank was as admirable in its power of delineating character as was the mighty pen of Charles Dickens, and that in the success and popularity of "Oliver Twist" they may claim an equal share.
Plate XIII
"FAGIN IN THE CONDEMNED CELL"
Facsimile of a Trial Sketch by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK
Minor Writings in "Bentley's Miscellany." Certain humorous pieces written by Dickens for Richard Bentley were also illustrated by Cruikshank. The first paper, entitled "Public Life of Mr. Tulrumble, once Mayor of Mudfog" (published in January 1837), contains an etching of Ned[5] Twigger in the kitchen of Mudfog Hall, and the next contribution, purporting to be a "Full Report of the Second Meeting of the Mudfog Association for the Advancement of Everything" (September, 1838) is embellished with a very ludicrous illustration, entitled "Automaton Police Office and Real Offenders, from the model exhibited before Section B of the Mudfog Association." This design depicts the interior of a police-court in which all the officials are automatic—an ingenious rendering of the idea propounded by Mr. Coppernose to the President and members of the Association. To the second paper the artist also supplied a woodcut portrait of "The Tyrant Sowster," of whom he made no less than six studies before he succeeded in producing a satisfactory presentment of Mudfog's "active and intelligent" beadle.
In his juvenile days Dickens wrote a farce entitled "The Lamplighter," which, owing to its non-acceptance by the theatrical management for whom it was composed, he converted into an amusing tale called "The Lamplighter's Story." This constituted his share in a collection of light essays and other papers gratuitously supplied by well-known authors, and issued in volume form under the title of "The Pic Nic Papers," for the benefit of the widow of Macrone, Dickens's first publisher. The work, edited by Dickens, was launched by Henry Colborn in 1841, in three volumes, with fourteen illustrations by Cruikshank, "Phiz," and other artists. The first volume opened with "The Lamplighter's Story," for which Cruikshank provided an etching entitled "The Philosopher's Stone," the subject represented being the unexpected explosion of Tom Grig's crucible. This was the last illustration executed by the artist for Dickens's writings,[6] and it may be added that some impressions of the plate were issued in proof state "before letters," but these are exceedingly rare. Although for many years afterwards they continued fast friends, it may be (as Mr. Graham Everitt conjectures) that Cruikshank found it impossible to co-operate any longer with so exacting an employer of artistic labour as Charles Dickens, who remonstrated, with some show of reason, that he was the best judge of what he required pictorially—an argument, however, which did not suit the independent spirit of the artist. Of his genius Dickens was ever a warm admirer, and remarking upon the exclusion of so able a draughtsman from the honours of the Royal Academy, because, forsooth! his works were not produced in certain mediums, the novelist pertinently asks: "Will no Associates be found upon its books one of these days, the labours of whose oil and brushes will have sunk into the profoundest obscurity, when many pencil-marks of Mr. Cruikshank and Mr. Leech will be still fresh in half the houses in the land?"
It will be remembered that George Cruikshank published a version of the Fairy Tales, converting them into stories somewhat resembling Temperance tracts. Dickens was greatly incensed, and, half-playfully and half-seriously, protested against such alterations of the beautiful little romances, this re-writing them "according to Total Abstinence, Peace Society, and Bloomer principles, and expressly for their propagation;" in an article published in Household Words, October 1, 1853, entitled "Frauds on the Fairies," the novelist enunciates his opinions on the subject, and gives the story of Cinderella as it might be "edited" by a gentleman with a "mission." This elicited a reply from Cruikshank (in a short-lived magazine bearing his name, and launched by him in 1854), which took the form of "A Letter from Hop-o'-my-Thumb to Charles Dickens, Esq.," commencing with "Right Trusty, Well-Beloved, Much-Read, and Admired Sir," the artist contending that he was justified in altering "a common fairy-tale" when his sole object was to remove objectionable passages, and, in their stead, to inculcate moral principles. There is no doubt, however, that Dickens's rebuke seriously affected the sale of the Fairy Library.
Plate XIV
FIRST IDEA AND SKETCH FOR "FAGIN IN THE CONDEMNED CELL"
And Various Studies for Scenes and Characters in "Oliver Twist"
Facsimile of Original Drawings by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK