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Rare prints and maps...Since 1918! Click here to go to Darvill's home page.

Since Adirondack Retro acquired Darvill's Rare Prints in August of 2022, we have been working tirelessly on our New State-Of-The Art Website. We are excited to announce that it is now up and running and that our massive inventory of Antique Prints and Rare Maps are being transferred over to the new site daily. In addition to the nearly 500,000 prints found on www.DarvillsRarePrints.com, Adirondack Retro offers an eclectic selection of Antique and Vintage Advertisements along with their Limited Edition Giclee Prints. During this transition, customers will still be able to shop and make purchases on www.DarvillsRarePrints.com.

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Darvill's Rare Prints is please to offer a huge selection of original H.K. Browne ("Phiz") prints from various Charles Dickens publications.

Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) provided all 40 illustrations, etched on steel, for Bleak House which was published in monthly parts March 1852—September 1853.

In order to help set the dark mood of the novel Browne incorporated a technique called 'dark plate' on ten of the illustrations.
The dark plate technique involved using a ruling-machine (operated by an assistant) which cut a close-spaced criss-cross pattern of lines into the plate, thus creating an overall dark cast on the resulting print.

The illustration depicting Toms-all-Alone's, the slum that is home to the crossing-sweeper, Jo, is perhaps the most striking example of the dark plate technique.

[source: victorianweb.com]

These are original prints over 150 years old, not reproductions.
Page size is approximately 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 inches.
There may be some damp staining or foxing on the prints due to their age,
so please have a look at the provided enlargements
by clicking on the thumbnails below.

We have many more prints by Phiz...
please see the Satire/Humor page by clicking here.

H.K. Browne, also known as Phiz

 

Background:

Dickens worked in close collaboration with his illustrators, supplying them with an overall summary of the work at the outset for the cover illustration which was printed on heavy colored stock, usually green, which served as a wrapper for each of the monthly parts. Dickens briefed the illustrator on plans for each month's installment so that work on the two illustrations could begin before he wrote them.

This close working relationship with his illustrators is important to readers of Dickens today. The illustrations give us a glimpse of the characters as Dickens described them to the illustrator and approved when the drawing was finished. Film makers still use the illustrations as a basis for characterization, costume, and set design in the dramatization of Dickens' works.

 

When Robert Seymour committed suicide after the second installment of Pickwick the author and his publishers needed a new illustrator. Artists such as John Leech, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Robert W. Buss were considered but the man selected was Hablot Knight Browne who had done some work for Chapman and Hall earlier and had worked with Dickens on a recent pamphlet.

Browne and Dickens developed an excellent working relationship and Browne took the nickname Phiz to complement Dickens' Boz. Browne would go on to illustrate Dickens' work for 23 years, ten of Dicken's novels were illustrated by Phiz. Browne's comic/satiric style of illustration did not fit well with Dickens' later, more serious, novels and after the somewhat disappointing illustrations for A Tale of Two Cities, he never worked for Dickens again.

Phiz and Emblematic Detail
In the background of many of the Phiz illustrations of Dickens' novels the illustrator introduces details that help to interpret what is happening in the story. Some of these emblematic details are rather obvious and some are more subtle. Michael Steig, in his book Dickens and Phiz, argues effectively that, although Dickens gave detailed instructions as to the content of the illustrations, many of the emblematic details in the illustrations were added by Phiz on his own.

 


Frontispiece to Bleak House

Frontispiece to Bleak House



The Little Old Lady

The Little Old Lady


Miss Jellyby

Miss Jellyby



The Lord Chancellor copies from memory

The Lord Chancellor copies from memory


Coavinses

Coavinses

$25


In Re Guppy, Extraordinary proceedings

In Re Guppy, Extraordinary proceedings

$20
(click on above image for
enlargement and condition issues)


Mr. Guppy's desolation

Mr. Guppy's desolation

$20
(click on above image for
enlargement and condition issues)


The family portraits at Mr. Bayham Badger's

The family portraits at Mr. Bayham Badger's

$25


Caddy's flowers

Caddy's flowers


Consecrated Ground

Consecrated Ground


(foxed, rust in right margin, damp stain upper right)


The little church in the park

The little church in the park

$30


The Smallweed family

The Smallweed family

$25


A model of Parental Deportment

A model of Parental Deportment



Mr. Chadband 'improving' a tough subject

Mr. Chadband 'improving' a tough subject



Visitors at the Shooting Gallery

Visitors at the Shooting Gallery


The Young Man of the name of Guppy

The Young Man of the name of Guppy


The appointed time

The appointed time


The old man of the name of Tulkinghorn

The old man of the name of Tulkinghorn

$15

see enlargement for condition


Mr. Smallweed breaks the pipe of peace

Mr. Smallweed breaks the pipe of peace

$30


The Ghost's Walk

The Ghost's Walk



Sunset in the long Drawing room at Chesney Wold

Sunset in the long Drawing room at Chesney Wold

(see condition issues)



Sir Leicester Dedlok

Sir Leicester Dedlok

$15
(foxed)


Tom all alone's

Tom all alone's


A new meaning in the Roman

A new meaning in the Roman

(see enlargement for condition issues)


Friendly behaviour of Mr. Bucket

Friendly behaviour of Mr. Bucket

(foxed)


Mrs. Bagnet returns from her expedition

Mrs. Bagnet returns from her expedition

$20
(foxed)


The lonely figure

The lonely figure

$15
(foxed in margins)



The night

The night


The morning

The morning


The Mausoleum at Chesney Wold

The Mausoleum at Chesney Wold

$35
(marginal foxing)

Many more Phiz Dickens prints on the Humor and Satire page