Task to come, time permitting : to read the first chapters of The Pickwick Papers, through to the end of the sections completed at the time the illustrator Robert Seymour killed himself on April 20, 1836. This, because I am curious about the coincidence of Jacob Marley's death occurring seven years before the events in A Christmas Carol and Seymour's committing suicide seven years before Dickens wrote it. I've modeled Bob Cratchit after a self-portrait by Seymour. There were problems between Dickens and Seymour over The Pickwick Papers, and Dickens was one of the last people to see Seymour alive. However, Seymour had some pre-existing mental health problems. I wonder, did Dickens find himself feeling guilty about Seymour? See the link below to the Wikipedia article on Seymour for more information. It's a bit complicated.
Dickens doesn't give much of a physical description for Bob (his most notable feature is his clothing, a white "comforter," or scarf, and "no great-coat"), but Seymour would have been about the right age, based on the number and ages of Bob Cratchit's children. English law on suicide during that period prevented his wife from inheriting anything from him, leaving Bob Seymour's family probably as badly off as Bob Cratchit's. Again, please see the Wikipedia article.
And what about Seymour's illustrations for Thomas Hervey's 1835 Book of Christmas - did these have an influence on A Christmas Carol? I'd be surprised if Dickens hadn't been familiar with it. So I have another task to come, time permitting : to read all of Hervey's Book of Christmas.
Here are some relevant links :
Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Seymour_(illustrator)
Wikisource : https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Seymour,_Robert_(DNB00)
The Pickwick Papers, from Project Gutenberg : http://www.gutenberg.org/files/580/580-h/580-h.htm
Thomas K. Hervey's Book of Christmas (1835, reprinted 1888) with illustrations by Seymour, also from Project Gutenberg (found via its mention in the above link to Wikisource) : http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42622/42622-h/42622-h.htm
And here is my original sketch of Bob Cratchit, showing both the outlines of his comforter and his entire face :
Hi - I don't think we have communicated before, though having said that your name is slightly familiar to me. Anyway, I am the author of the novel Death and Mr Pickwick, which tells the story behind the creation of The Pickwick Papers - and Seymour is the main character. One of my novel's fans has just pointed out this page to me, and you might be interested in an article of mine, which goes over similar ground, but in which I suggest that Marley is Seymour. Here is the piece: https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/on-writing/times-and-life/2016/nov/what-was-christmas-like-for-charles-dickens/ However, it hadn't occurred to me that Bob Cratchit might be Seymour - but when you think about it, 'Bob' is short for 'Robert' and 'Cratchit' sounds like 'scratch it' which might refer to etching. Anyway, I hope you will take a look at my novel. Also, I have just posted a link to your page on the Death and Mr Pickwick facebook page, www.facebook.com/deathandmrpickwick Also, if you would like me to promote your illustrations of the Carol on that page, I would be delighted to do so. Best wishes Stephen Jarvis
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Jarvis - Thank you so much for contacting me. I've just read both your articles on Penguin's website, and they're fascinating. You certainly have a more substantial knowledge of Dickens than I do, and I think your conclusion about Marley being Seymour has more merit than mine about Bob Cratchit. Thank you for sharing your insights, and I do appreciate your offer to promote my illustrations on facebook. And I will definitely pick up your novel in the very near future. Happy Holidays! Valerie
DeleteDear Valerie (if I may) - Many thanks for your reply, and I see you have already visited the facebook page. I do hope you will continue to visit the page - it is a very active community, and new posts appear every day. Indeed, I am collecting all the posts into an online multi-volume flipbook, which is much easier to access than facebook - and twelve volumes of the flipbook, with hundreds of posts on all aspects of Pickwick, Seymour etc, have been produced so far! You can access them by going to www.deathandmrpickwick.com and clicking on the 'further reading' tab. One of the fans on the FB page has suggested that probably no other novel has such a facebook presence as Death and Mr Pickwick...and I think that's probably true! All the best Stephen
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