Bleak House

Dublin Core

Title

Bleak House

Description

Bleak House is one of Dickens’ most famous novels. Bleak House centers around a legal dispute known as Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Readers are introduced to a panoply of characters, each of whom is shown to have some connection to the case in one way or another. This novel is told by two narrators: a third person narrator and a first person narrator known as Esther Summerson. It was first published serially in Household Words between March 1852 and September 1853.

The front and back hard-covers of these two particular volumes (22 and 23) are plain dark red, with faded gold lettering. Together, the volumes contain 57 detailed illustrations by Fred Barnard which add to the piece and its characters. The illustrations evoke a darker image of the novel’s plot as compared to the illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne (“Phiz”) in the serialized edition of Bleak House. For example, the illustration that represents the Jellyby’s household in the 1900 edition has a different atmosphere than the serialized edition. Mrs. Jellyby is seen attentively writing her letters with all the scattered papers around her, the children and the tilted frame attached to the wall on the right hand of the illustration display the devastated life condition of the Jellyby family. This contrasts with Phiz’s depiction of the house, which focuses on the origins of the relationship between Caddy Jellyby and Esther Summerson. Readers can grasp the significant facts from Fred Barnard’s Illustrations of Bleak House, because it gives a wide perception into the employed conflicts in each chapter of the novel.

These two volumes are part of a 30 volume set that was published by Peter Fenelon Collier & Son in New York City, 1900. The Marymount Gomatos Collection has the entire set.

The other volumes in this set include:
v. 1. Oliver Twist. Out of Town. Out of Season
v. 2-3. David Copperfield
v. 4. Our Mutual Friend, pt. I
v. 5. Our Mutual Friend, pt. II. On Duty with Inspector Field. A Walk in a Work-House
v. 6. Great Expectations
v. 7. Little Dorrit, pt. I
v. 8. Little Dorrit, pt. II. Down with the Tide. A Plated article
v. 9. Martin Chuzzlewit, pt. I
v. 10. Martin Chuzzlewit, pt. II. Prince Bull: a Fairy Tale. Our Honorable Friend
v. 11. Nicholas Nickleby, pt. I
v. 12. Nicholas Nickleby, pt. II. A Christmas Tree. The Long Voyage
v. 13 A Tale of Two Cities. The Perils of Certain English Prisoners. The Wreck of the Golden Mary. The Begging-Letter Writer
v. 14-15. Dombey and Son
v. 16. The Old Curiosity Shop, pt. I
v. 17. The Old Curiosity Shop, pt. II. Hard Times. Sketches of Young Couples
v. 18. Christmas Books. The Haunted House
v. 19. Sketches by Boz
v. 20-21. Pickwick Papers
v. 22-23. Bleak House
v. 24. Pictures from Italy. The Uncommercial Traveler
v. 25. Barnaby Rudge, pt. I
v. 26. Barnaby Rudge, pt. II. Master Humphery’s Clock and Other Stories
v. 27. American Notes. Reprinted Pieces.
v. 28. A Child’s History of England
v. 29. Christmas Stories
v. 30. No Thoroughfare. The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Further reading:

Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens. Being Eight Hundred and Sixty-Six Pictures Printed from the Original Wood Blocks.
London: The Musson Book Co. Limited, n.d. The Internet Archive. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Creator

Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.

Publisher

New York: P.F. Collier

Date

1900

Contributor

Alajmi, Arib
Ficke, Sarah
Giblin, Kaitlyn
Heflin, Sara
Henkle, Richard

Format

30 v. : ill., port. ; 21 cm.

Type

Document

Identifier

http://catalog.wrlc.org/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=4016283

Files

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Citation

Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870. , “Bleak House,” John T. and Agnes J. Gomatos Special Collections Room, accessed March 28, 2024, https://gomatos.wrlc.org/items/show/26.