Undoubtedly, a great part of the success was due to the art of the illustrators. To begin with, there was an unusually liberal display of pictures--the edition, as a whole, containing close upon nine hundred. But more important than the number were the truth and sincerity of the interpretations--qualities which helped to give a new life to characters already secure of immortality. First and foremost, of course, the edition will always be associated with the memory of Fred Barnard, whose pictures are the outstanding feature of the present volume. Barnard seemed destined by nature to illustrate Dickens; the spirit of "Boz" ran again in his veins. And nothing in his work is more impressively ingenious than the skill with which he took the types already created by his predecessors, preserved their characteristics, so that each was unmistakably himself, and yet by the illuminating touch of genius transferred them every one from the realm of caricature to that of portraiture. Not far inferior to him was that admirable draughtsman, Charles Green, who exactly adopted Barnard's attitude to the originals. The reader who will compare Green's illustrations to "The Old Curiosity Shop" with Phiz's, will scarcely fail to notice with interest how often Green has chosen the same subject as his predecessor, and all but treated it in the same manner, save that a twisted grotesque suddenly becomes, under the magic of his wand, a natural human being. His picture of Sally Brass and the Marchioness is a remarkable instance in point: but there are many others equally eloquent of his sympathetic and interpretative method. Nor should the work of Mahony, A. B. Frost, Gordon Thomson and others be forgotten, for each in his own way has helped to make this volume, what its publishers confidently claim it to be, a collection of Dickens pictures unrivalled for humour, pathos, character, and interpretative skill. In the certainty that such a gallery of good work can hardly fail to find appreciators, the volume is now offered to all lovers of the most widely popular author of the Victorian Era. SKETCHES BY BOZ ILLUSTRATIVE OF EVERY-DAY LIFE AND EVERY-DAY PEOPLE. [Illustration] THIRTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS BY FRED BARNARD [Illustration: THE HALF-PAY CAPTAIN COMPLETELY EFFACED THE OLD LADY'S NAME FROM THE BRASS DOOR-PLATE IN HIS ATTEMPTS TO POLISH IT WITH AQUA-FORTIS--_Our Parish_, chap. ii.] [Illustration: "WHY THE DEVIL AIN'T YOU LOOKING AFTER THAT PLATE?"--_Our Parish_, chap. v.] [Illustration: WHEN HE FIRST CAME TO LOOK AT THE LODGINGS, HE INQUIRED MOST PARTICULARLY WHETHER HE WAS SURE TO BE ABLE TO GET A SEAT IN THE PARISH CHURCH--_Our Parish_, chap. vii.] [Illustration: "IT IS NEARLY ELEVEN O'CLOCK, AND THE COLD THIN RAIN, WHICH HAS BEEN DRIZZLING SO LONG, IS BEGINNING TO POUR DOWN IN GOOD EARNEST"--_Scenes_, chap. ii.] [Illustration: THE GRAVESEND BOAT.--_Scenes_, chap. x.]