Part 28 (1/2)
As the date fixed for the publication of the first number of ”Edwin Drood” was rapidly approaching, it became necessary that Mr. Fildes should immediately begin to prepare his designs. Receiving the proof-sheets of each number, he studied them so diligently and carefully that he allowed no incident or personal trait to escape him. Indeed, d.i.c.kens himself (as Mrs. Meynell tells us in _The Century_ of February 1884) was astonished at the way in which his mind found itself mirrored in that of his coadjutor, both as regards the pictorial exactness of inanimate things and the appreciation of individual human character. The artist, however, was at first considerably perplexed in being kept in total ignorance of the plot, as d.i.c.kens volunteered no information respecting either the characters or the various parts they played, and although Mr. Fildes was much puzzled, before the plot began to develop, in discovering who was the hero and who the villain of the story, he hesitated to interrogate the novelist, because he surmised that there was a particular motive for his reticence. ”He did, at my solicitation,”
observes Mr. Fildes, ”occasionally tell me something--at first charily--for he said it was essential to carefully preserve the 'mystery' from general knowledge to sustain the interest of the book, and later he appeared to have complete confidence in my discretion.”
d.i.c.kens, it seems, was seldom in advance with his ma.n.u.script, and each number was barely completed in time for the printers, thus necessitating excessive prompt.i.tude on the part of the engravers as well as the designer. The subjects of the earlier ill.u.s.trations were selected by the author, who marked on the proofs the particular incidents to be depicted. In thus trotting after the novelist, the artist experienced a sense of restraint, and felt unable to do himself justice. At length, when d.i.c.kens proposed that one of the incidents to be delineated should be that in which John Jasper steals up a winding staircase in absolute darkness with murder on his face, Mr. Fildes courteously protested by pointing out the artistic disadvantages of ill.u.s.trating such a scene, adding that it was already so graphically recounted that further elucidation became superfluous. _Apropos_ of this, Mr. M. H. Spielmann remarks: ”It is curious to observe how d.i.c.kens's dramatic sense obtruded itself when arranging for the drawings. He would always wish that scene or _tableau_ to be ill.u.s.trated on which he had lavished the whole force and art of his descriptive powers--naturally the one that least required or justified ill.u.s.tration.” By this time the novelist realised the advisability of leaving the responsibility of selection in the hands of the artist, who thenceforth was relieved of the limitations and restrictions. .h.i.therto imposed upon him.
PLATE LXIV
STUDIES FOR
MR. JASPER
_Facsimile_ of Original Sketches by
LUKE FILDES, R.A.
The figure on the right was introduced in the Ill.u.s.tration ent.i.tled ”On Dangerous Ground.”
_Vide_ ”The Mystery of Edwin Drood.”
_Lent by the Artist._
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The requisite consultations between d.i.c.kens and his ill.u.s.trator were invariably held at Hyde Park Place. Whenever practicable, Mr. Fildes made sketches from the life of suitable types for the characters in the story, and was fortunate in securing living models for the princ.i.p.al personages. Over the type of Jasper there was much discussion, the artist making several attempts before he obtained an exact portrait of the choirmaster; and so successful and sympathetic were this and other delineations of character, that d.i.c.kens was delighted with them, declaring them to be like veritable photographs of the people themselves. The backgrounds, too, were drawn from actual scenes, as, for example, the opium-smokers' den which figures in the first and last ill.u.s.trations; this was discovered by the artist somewhere in the East End of London; the exact spot he cannot recall, nor does he believe that d.i.c.kens had any particular den in his mind, but merely described from memory the general impression of something of the kind he had observed many years before. The architectural details introduced in the ill.u.s.tration, ”Durdles Cautions Mr. Sapsea against Boasting,” were drawn from a careful sketch made within the precincts of Rochester Cathedral, although in the published design there is subst.i.tuted a gateway different from that existing at this spot, in order to a.s.sist, no doubt, in promoting the novelist's obvious intention of disguising the ident.i.ty of ”Cloisterham.” In the engraving ent.i.tled ”Good-bye, Rosebud, darling!” it is very easy to recognise the quaint courtyard of Eastgate House in Rochester High Street. In the river scene we obtain a glimpse of Putney Church and of the picturesque wooden bridge which, until a few years ago, spanned the Thames at that point;[49] while in a third ill.u.s.tration, ”Under the Trees,” the artist availed himself of a sketch (made some time previously) of the cloisters at Chester Cathedral.
Footnote 49: By a curious coincidence, this scene is almost identical with that depicted by Seymour on the wrapper for the monthly parts of ”Pickwick.”
Concerning another of these designs, viz., ”Mr. Grewgious Experiences a New Sensation,” it may be mentioned that not only was this cosy interior actually drawn from a room in Staple Inn, but that the original of the capacious arm-chair in which Rosa is seated still remains in the artist's possession, it being almost the sole survivor of the furnis.h.i.+ng items which formed part of his bachelor establishment.
It is interesting to learn that d.i.c.kens, who placed such great confidence in his ill.u.s.trator, did not consider it essential that preliminary sketches should be submitted to him. Mr. Fildes's original studies for his designs were vigorously executed with chalk upon tinted paper, the high-lights being emphasized with chinese-white; the finished drawings were made upon paper and then photographed upon boxwood blocks.
The engraving was at first entrusted to Dalziel Brothers, one of the best-known firms of wood-engravers of that day, but after the first two engravings were completed, Mr. Fildes intimated to the novelist a wish that the work of reproduction might be transferred to a former colleague of his, Charles Roberts, whereupon d.i.c.kens thus wrote to the late Frederick Chapman, of Chapman & Hall: ”Mr. Fildes has been with me this morning, and, without complaining of Dalziel, or expressing himself otherwise than as being obliged to him for his care in No. 1, represents that there is a brother-student of his, a wood-engraver, perfectly acquainted with his style and well understanding his meaning, who would render him better. I have replied to him that there can be no doubt that he has a claim beyond dispute to our employing whomsoever he knows will present him in the best aspect. Therefore, we must make the change; the rather because the fellow-student in question has engraved Mr. Fildes's most successful drawings. .h.i.therto.”
PLATE LXV
STUDY FOR
”GOOD-BYE, ROSEBUD, DARLING”
_Facsimile_ of the Original Sketch for ”The Mystery of Edwin Drood” by
LUKE FILDES, R.A.
_Lent by the Artist._
[Ill.u.s.tration]
An examination of the ill.u.s.trations discloses the fact that ten out of the full complement of twelve bear the signature of C. Roberts. In some instances, however, the result is disappointing, for the delicate tone-values which mark the original drawings are not apparent in the reproductions. This defect is chiefly due to the technical difficulties caused by the thick photographic film covering the surface of the wood-blocks, which curled up under the point of the graver; unengraved portions of the picture were thus lost, and the engraver, although carefully copying the missing portions, seldom succeeded in reproducing the characteristic touch of the artist. Mr. Fildes, perhaps, is hypercritical, for those who had not compared the engraved _replicas_ with the original designs were delighted with these decidedly effective ill.u.s.trations, while Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A., quick to recognise the unusual ability displayed in them, wrote to the novelist complimenting him on securing so facile and graceful an interpreter of his text,--a comment with which d.i.c.kens was much gratified. As events proved, Mr.
Fildes was as receptive as d.i.c.kens was impressive, and ”vividly as d.i.c.kens saw the creatures of his brain, he saw them no otherwise than as they lived by this quick and sympathetic pencil.”