PHIZ'S BLACK DOLL: INTEGRATING TEXT AND ETCHING INBLEAK HOUSE

Abstract

Three black dolls appear in the etchingsby H. K. Browne (Phiz) that accompany Charles Dickens'sBleak House(1853). They hang, strange fruit, from strings on walls and in shop windows, and their purpose as commentary on the text remains unclear because it is also initially unclear what they might represent. The dolls are never mentioned in the text of the novel, nor do they receive any substantial criticism in readings ofBleak House's illustrations. This article plumbs the archive for evidence of the dolls, and uses the resulting range of associations, from the American cotton trade to Victorian advertising techniques, to argue for a greater integration of the analysis of text and illustrations in serialized, illustrated novels such asBleak House. Material culture readings of the novel to this date have overlooked elements of the illustrations (which are themselves material objects), or have focused on illustrations as print culture, and not conversations with the written text. Examining the dolls in this context not only enrichesBleak House, but also attests to the value of observing the interplay of text and illustration, as well as text and advertising, in readings of the novel's serialized form.