Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens

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'Phiz' - Hablot Knight Browne - was the greatillustrator of Dickens' fiction. For over twenty-three years they worked together, and Phiz's drawings brought to life a galaxy of much-loved characters, from Mr Pickwick, Nicholas Nickleby and Mr Micawber, to Little Nell and David Copperfield. But, from the mystery of his birth onwards, Phiz himself led a life as rich as any novel. He came from an old Huguenot Spitalfields family, ostensibly the fourteenth child of debt-ridden parents. But the Brownes' oldest daughter Kate was engaged to a Captain Hablot of Napoleon's Imperial Guard who disappeared in June 1815, presumed dead at Waterloo; Phiz was born the following month. Seven years later his official father, too, vanished without trace. In this vivid, lively memoir - the first full biography, long-awaited by Victorian scholars - his great-great-granddaughter Valerie Browne Lester tracks the struggles of the abandoned Browne family and follows Phiz's path to marriage and fame, his travels around England and Ireland and work with Dickens, Lever, Trollope and others, and his colourful private life. Although he was hopeless with money and had too many children he remained an eternal optimist until his death in 1882. In his inimitable way, Phiz was a great artist. His story bustles with character and adventure, celebrations and arguments, laughter and tears. Based ona mass of unpublished material, this enchanting book, packed with surprising and delicious illustrations, is a perfect present for all who love Dickens and enjoy the hidden byways of Victorian life.

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Valerie Browne Lester, the great-great-granddaughter of Phiz, is a journalist, poet and playwright, and former university lecturer at George Washington University. She lives in Maryland, USA.