Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 247, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 February 1934 — Page 27

FEB. 2!?, 1934

DICKENS’ LIFE, CAREER AS TOLD IN RARE PORTRAITS

Highlights in the career of Charles Dickens, whose unpublished manuscript, “The Life of Our Lord,” is to be released to the public after being withheld for nearly sixty-five years, are traced in several rare old paintings.

No. I—Charles Dickens as seen by the artist, Francis Alexander, of Boston. The picture was made in 1842 during the author’s first visit to America. It shows him much younger than he was at that

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No. I—America's first statue of Charles Dickens stands in a public square in Philadelphia. Looking up is VLittle Nell.”

time, 30. Two books grew out of the American expedition; “American Notes,” and the novel, “Martin Chuzzlewit.” ' No. 2—An engraving in 1861 by R. B. Parkes.

No. 2—The drawing room in Dickens’ home at Gadshill, England. No. 3—Front view of the Dickens' home, Gadshill.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

No. I—An artist sketch of Charles Dickens in the familiar pose of the painting of William B. Meyers. No. 2. ldentified only as “Charles Dickens, the younger.” Time of photograph is not known. No. 3—Airs. Charles Dickens, 1846, from a painting by D. Maclise of the Royal Academy. No. 4—The steamer Messenger, on which Dickens traveled from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati during his first visit to America in 1842. No. s—An old Dickens painting recently brought to life, and particularly timely as it shows his interest in children. The unpublished manuscript, “The Life of Christ,” which is soon to be published after being withheld from the public for nearly sixty-five years, was written by Dickens especially for his own children.

No. 3—Dickens in 1868, from a photograph by Mason, reproduced by permission of Messrs. Chapman and Hall in “The Dickens’ Country,” by Frederic G. Kitton, London, in 1911.

The Indianapolis Times today presents a page of portraits showing scenes in the era and life of Charles Dickens, the author of the “Life of Our Lord.” The story which has been kept from the public for sixty-four years, the treasure and secret of the Dickens family, will appear in The Times, starting March 5. The discovery that Charles Dickens had left a 14,000-lvord manuscript—a disclosure made sixtyfour years after the author’s death—reaches a liighwater mark in literary history. No precedent can be cited of a similar occurrence in English letters. Every moment of Dickens’ life had been investigated assiduously and analyzed by able biographers early and late, and these, it was presumed, had traced every action of his busy life. Biographers had gone, so they thought, into every crevice and nook to determine finally what had been his life’s work. This admirable bit of workmanship on a most unusual and interesting subject had been suppressed for a period of eighty-five years. Never was an important literary secret so perfectly kept as this one, and this feature is of added interest attaching to the belated publication. “The Life of Our Lord,” as the author named it, was written when Dickens was in the peak of his power as a great craftsman. Reading it, at once carries that conviction with it. This period may be fixed indubitably at the time when he had just finished one of his prime books, namely “David Copperfield,” which was issued in monthly parts in 1849-50. At this period words flowed like water from his prolific pen. Early in the 1840’s Dickens had written to Douglas Jerrold concerning a book to be made expressly for his children. This idea formulated itself in “A Child’s History of England” However, this time, so far as known, he dictated his thoughts to another person ivho was Georgina Hogarth, his sister-in-law. In book form it did not appear until 1852, after it had ibeen published in Household Words. By a coincidence it appears that Miss Hogarth had been the first owner of the manuscript of “The Life of Our Lord.” She bequeathed it to Henry Fielding Dickens, who was born in 1849, about the time the story was written. Os paramount importance are features which must not be lost sight of. “The Life” is the first book written by Dickens of a purely religious nature. It is the first and only book which is strictly historical and biographical in combination. These two elements must be remembered in judging the book. It is true that Dickens in his imaginative writings on

No. 4-HCharles Dickens reading to his daughters on the Gads* hill estate lawn. (From the Robert Fridenberg Galleries.)

No. 4—A portrait by Frith in the South Kensington Museum. No. s—Painted from life by William B. Meyers during Dickens’ second visit to America in 1867.

several occasions turned to history and figures in history, yet he never produced another such work in which the figure of one personality stands out alone with all attempts at fiction omitted. His two leading semi-historical novels are “Barnaby Rudge” and “A Tale of Two Cities.” The first thought which will strike the mind of the average reader when he is told that “The Life” was prepared for the author’s children is what relation does it bear to that other children’s book, “A Child’s History of England.” That would be a natural query. This “History” did, not excite much interest when it was published and it has not since. Undoubtedly its writing value rvas impaired when the author resorted to dictation. It was new to him. A comparison is not only odious, but it is unfair if not impossible. There is no relation either in style, subject matter or treatment. “The Life of Our Lord” is a beautiful literary etching in which every line, due to its simplicity, tells its story. It is a perfect example in plain unadorned Anglo-Saxon. So it may be said that the appeal of this story is not for the young necessarily or exclusively, but has a finer interest for the adult who loves Dickens and who admires that which is really great in the art of expression. As the story is told it forms a complete biography of the Savior from the birth to the trial and crucifixion and the subsequent events. There is nothing controversial injected. No definite physical view is introduced of Him as there is of the minor characters, such as Herod, Pontius Pilate and the Apostles. Embroidery and embellishment are absent, but the figures are fairly well visualized by accurate but shortened strokes of the pen. The treatment of the women characters is done with much sympathy and care. The perfect arrangement historically and the characterization would indicate a preparation for the subject based upon a good knowledge of the New Testament. The reader will find no offenses in anachronisms or faulty historical statements. Flowing through the narrative are rivulets of comment which are intended to fix the religious thoughts of the child as well as the grown. Altogether it presents the period and its atmosphere and also the figures with fidelity, and the statement may be made in safety that aside from the author it is a story written in a manner which no living author could match. Dickens knew the nib from the feathers of the quill pen with which he wrote. “The Life of Our Lord” will be presented by The Times on March 5.

No. s—Mrs. Charles Dickens, from a painting about 1848 by Daniel Mac Use.

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