Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case I, Shelf 96

Early Coaches

Drawing
1837-39 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Pencil and sepia wash drawing, inscribed with title, 'Early Coaches', and partly erased, 'I am ready Mr Boz but more time I beg.'


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleEarly Coaches (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Pencil, sepia wash, drawing
Brief description
'Early Coaches'. One of four illustrations drawn by George Cruikshank for Chapman and Hall's edition of 'Sketches by Boz' by Charles Dickens. Pencil and sepia wash, 1837-39.
Physical description
Pencil and sepia wash drawing, inscribed with title, 'Early Coaches', and partly erased, 'I am ready Mr Boz but more time I beg.'
Dimensions
  • Height: 6in
  • Width: 3.75in
Dimensions taken from Victoria and Albert Museum Charles Dickens: An exhibition to celebrate the centenary of his death London: HMSO, 1970.
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Early Coaches' (Inscribed with the title)
  • 'I am ready Mr Boz but more time I beg' (and partly erased)
Object history
The young man paying his booking fee is a portrait of Dickens; in the etching his pseudonym Boz is faintly traced on the trunk on the counter. The erased inscription is an example of one of Cruikshank's not infrequent complaints that the busy author, whose commitments were growing daily, did not send him the manuscript on time.
Subjects depicted
Association
Literary reference'Sketches by Boz' by Charles Dickens, first published in 1836.
Bibliographic reference
Dimensions taken from Victoria and Albert Museum Charles Dickens: An exhibition to celebrate the centenary of his death London: HMSO, 1970.
Collection
Accession number
9920

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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