An Annotated Commentary on the Original and Earliest Illustrations of Anthony Trollope's Novels and Short Stories 1

1855 The Warden: Longman; (later edition) F. C. Tilney
1858 Dr Thorne: Chapman & Hall; (later edition) H. L. Schindler
1861 Framley Parsonage: Smith, Elder; John Everett Millais
1862 Orley Farm: Chapman & Hall; John Everett Millais

The Warden: 3 Illustrations

Written 1852 (29 July) -1853 (autumn)
Published as a book 1855 (5 January), Wm Longman

  1. Cover illustration to Longmans, Green, Reader, & Dyer 1855: Full bodied man, being comforted by his daughter; a depiction of Mr Harding and Eleanor. Sources: Trollopiana 16; James Pope Hennessey, Anthony Trollope, from Mansell Collection, p 337; C. P. Snow, Anthony Trollope: An illustrated biography, p. 78 (good copy, from yellow-back binding). My comment: effective picture, good rounded drawing.

  2. Early in book, later edition illustrated by F. C. Tilney: Mr Harding, playing to the bedesmen of Hiram's Hospital. Sources: Hennessy p. 142. My comment: poor drawing attempting to capture pastoral feeling.

  3. Early in book, later edition illustrated by F. C. Tilney: 'Eleanor Harding and John Bold, before their engagement'. Hennessey, p. 150. My comment: romancing picture shows expectation reader emphasis on love story.

Dr Thorne: 4 Illustrations

Written 1857 (20 October) -1858 (31 March)
Published as a book 1858 May Chapman and Hall
H. L. Schindler illustrations from a contemporary later edition

  1. '"She is my niece", said the doctor, taking up the tiny infant in his arms'. Source: Hennessey, p. 17. My comment: important moment, girl in bed very well caught, caption is the words Trollope gave Dr Thorne as he promises Mary's mother to be a father to her.

  2. 'He did not at first see his sister Augusta who had just this moment come upon them'. Source: Hennessy, p. 267. My comment: again, a good choice of moment, at birthday party, Frank discovered wooing Mary by a hostile sister; the male figure drawn is too old.

  3. '"I must have ten or twelve thousand pounds; ten at the very least. Source: Snow, p. 157. My comment: much reduced print of Squire Gresham telling Dr. Thorne he must once again borrow from Roger Scatcherd and wants Thorne to be his gobetween.

  4. 'Sir Roger raised himself up in his bed with his fist clenched'. Source: Hennessy, p. 168. My comment: choice of psychological moment right; drawing inadequate.

Framley Parsonage: 6 Illustrations

Written 1859 (2 November) - 1860 (27 June)
Serialized 1860 (January) - 1861 (April), Cornhill
6 Illustrations by John Everett Millais
Published as a book 1861 (April), George Smith

  1. 'Lord Lufton and Lucy Robarts'. Source: 1996 Trollope Society edition of Framley Parsonage, facing p. 111; also reprinted Hennessey, p. 99; Snow, p. 116. Reprinted and discussed: N. John Hall, Anthony Trollope and His Illustrators, pp. 12-13; Hilary Gresty, 'Millais and Trollope: Author and Illustrator', The Book Collector, 1981 (30), pp. 46-54.

    Repeatedly discussed in many books; see Trollope on the Net, Chapter 6.


  2. 'Was it not a lie?'. Source: 1996 Trollope Society Framley Parsonage, facing p. 168; also reprinted Hennessy, p. 97; Margaret Markwick, Trollope and Women, p. 24. Reprinted and discussed: Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 14-18; Gresty, 'Millais and Trollope: Author and Illustrator', pp. 46-54.

    Repeatedly discussed in many books; see Trollope on the Net, Chapter 6.


  3. 'The Crawley Family'. Source: 1996 Trollope Society edition of Framley Parsonage, facing p. 222. Very good reprint of print and plate in 'English Illustrators in the Collection of George Arents', em>The Colphon, Series 3, No. 4 (1940), pp. 8-9; also reprinted Hennessy, p. 199. Reprinted and discussed: Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 18-21; Gresty, 'Millais and Trollope: Author and Illustrator', pp. 46-54.

    Again which is repeatedly discussed in many books; see Trollope on the Net, Chapter 6. It's a living remarkable depiction, superb.

    John Everett Millais, "The Crawley Family"


  4. 'Lady Lufton and the Duke of Omnium'. Source 1996 Trollope Society edition of Framley Parsonage, facting p 296. Reprinted and discussed: Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 21-24; Gresty, 'Millais and Trollope: Author and Illustrator', pp. 46-54. It's an effective group scene.

  5. 'Mrs Gresham and Miss Dunstable'. Source: 1996 Trollope Society edition of Framley Parsonage, facing p. 390. Reprinted Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 22. My comment: not alive; it's too still; snobbish look on Mary's face.

  6. '"Mark", she said, "the men are here"'. Source: 1996 Trollope Society edition of Framley Parsonage, facing p. 450; also reprinted in Markwick, Trollope and Women, p. 25; cover illustration to 1984 Penguin Framley Parsonage, edited by David Skilton and Peter Miles. Reprinted and discussed: Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 23-26.

    This is a moral paradigm remarkably true to the feeling of the text it is meant to illustrate.


Orley Farm: 41 Illustrations

Written 1860 (4 July) - 1861 (22 June)
Serialized 1861 (March) - 1862 (October), Monthly Shilling Parts
40 Full-Page Illustrations by John Everett Millais
Published as a book 1861 (Volume I, December), 1862 (Volume II, September), Chapman and Hall 1862 Oil Painting, Trust Me, colour reproduction and discussion in Russell Ashe, Sir John Everett Millais, Plate 23. It appears that this is another scene which Millais has himself fully imagined from Trollope's text for which there are only hints or implications in the novel; the painting was exhibited after the part issue of Orley Farm.

    Volume I


  1. 'Orley Farm'. Source: 1981 Dover reprint of 1862 Chapman and Hall 2 volume edition of Orley Farm, frontispiece facing title page; also reprinted in many other books because it is an actual drawing by Millais of the Julians Hill farmhouse in which the Trollope family lived while Trollope was growing up, e.g., Snow, p. 34. Reprinted and discussed, together with a photograph of the place in Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 50-54.
    J. E. Millais, "Orley Farm"," frontispiece, Orley Farm


  2. 'Sir Peregrine and His Heir'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 16. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 40-41. The eyes are so sad, so melancholy; whole thing partakes of gravity of idyllic Pre-Raphaelite style.
    J. E. Millais, "Sir Peregrine and His Heir," Orley Farm

  3. 'There was sorrow in her heart, and deep thought in her mind'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 36. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 27-29; Moody, Trollope on the Net, Chapter 6. Trollope said he saw more deeply into his text after seeing this drawing:
    J. E. Millais, Lady Mason", "There was sorrow in her Heart, and deep Thought in her mind," Orley Farm

  4. '"There is nothing like iron, Sir; nothing"'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 46. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 48-51. Remarkably alive piece of comedy, though far more merry, more joyous than the disillusioned spirit of the scene.
    J. E. Millais, ""There is Nothing like Iron, Sir, Nothing", Orley Farm

  5. 'Then they all marched out of the room, each with his own glass'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 72. My comment: it's too elegant, the emphasis is on the luxury of the room's accoutrements and gentlemanliness of the figures. Well drawn, but not comic enough.
    J. E. Millais, "And then they all marched out of the room, each with his own glass," Orley Farm

  6. 'Mr Furnival's welcome home'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 86. Not successful; wife looks simply irritated; Mr Furnival looks way too young; faces expressionless.
    J. E. Millais, Mr and Mrs Furnival, "Mr Furnival's Welcome Home," Orley Farm
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  7. '"Your son Lucius did say -- shopping?"'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 98. My comment: The timidity and hestitation on the figure representing Lady Mason is true to the text and effective. Mr. and Mrs Furnival now look older, worn; Mrs Furnival has something of the compassion and dignity she displays towards Lady Mason in later scenes when she discovers there is no liaison. Mr Furnival very good, tired, hair awry. Little touches good: an umbrella hanging from wall underneath worn hat. Bundle of letters on floor.

  8. 'Over their wine'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 110. Reprinted and discussed together with accompanying studied Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 42-44. My comment: successful depiction of psychological feel in text if you can accept the loss of detailed work in in the face facing frontwards.

  9. 'Van Bauhr's Dream'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 136. A scene of worn man in reverie; no such scene in text, but superb depiction of mood which is appropriate to many moments in Trollope's novels; male analogy to Lady Mason; see Trollope on the Net, Chapter 6.

    John Everett Millais, "Van Bauhr's Dream"



  10. The English Von Bauhr and his Pupil'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 140. My comment: Another scene which is expressive of mood and conversations that go on between Felix Graham and Augustus Staveley without there being an exacting detailed depiction of just this arrangement of figures in a landscape in the text.

  11. 'Christmas at Noningsby -- Morning'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 168. Expressionless faces; probably intended to suggest withdrawn melancholy poise, comes out as a face in hauteur.

  12. 'Christmas at Noningsby -- Evening'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 174. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 48-50. My comment: this picture has been reprinted many times as it is a rare scene for Trollope which includes children and presents Christmas as a merry, boisterous occasion. The blindfolding of Judge Staveley has a topsy-turvy effect as he is the Prospero of the novel.

    John Everett Millais, "Christmas at Noningsby -- Evening"



  13. '"Why should I not"'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p 200. Reprinted Hall, AT and His Illustrators, p. 45. My comment; throughout Sir Peregrine is made too young; the pose is too theatrical.

  14. 'Monkton Grange'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing p. i, p. 216. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, frontispiece, pp. 54-55. As this along with Hablôt Browne's depiction of a hunting scene in Can You Forgive Her? ('Edgehill', see directly below) constitute one of the two perhaps most frequently-reprinted of the illustrations to Trollope's illustrations, the impression is left that the novels are dominated by such scenes; nothing could be farther from the truth. They constitute interludes; there are in fact only four illustrations of hunting scenes among the hundreds of original and early illustrations to Trollope's novels. This is a later nostalgic emphasis and reading of Trollope's novels; not his own nor that of his contemporaries. See Trollope on the Net, Chapter 6. This is not to say that this and Brown's pictures are not attractive; they are.

    John Everett Millais, "Monkton Grange"



  15. 'Felix Graham in trouble'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 226. My comment: well done picture of one young man aiding another amidst the bracken of a heath or hill-like landscape. Focus again on young men; emphasis in pictures creates accompanying story of young men in trouble.

  16. 'Footsteps in the corridor'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 241. My comment: depiction of young girl with candle in corridor as older one comes out of sick room. The face of the older women is too wrinkled; again melancholy translates into hauteur.

  17. 'The Angel of Light'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 256. This is a successful depiction of young woman profoundly absorbed in the reading of a letter; her face is wholly in shadow yet alive with alertness; the room is detailed, poor yet respectable. Light wind blows the curtain out. Quality derives from sense of a real presence in the room.

    John Everett Millais, "Angel of Light" (Mary Snow)


  18. 'Lucius Mason in his Study'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 282. This equally successful depiction of a young man absorbed by the papers in front of him on his desk is found illustrated in a number of the novels. Trollope must have liked it. Again the story is as much Lucius's as Lady Mason's.
    John Everett Millais, "Lucius Mason in his Study"



  19. 'Peregrine's Eloquence'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 288. Reprinted and discussed together with a touched proof in Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 30-31. Lady Mason's face looks simply annoyed; otherwise very good. The glaring light out of young Peregrine's eyes, the hard face is right.

  20. 'Lady Staveley interrupting her Son and Sophia Furnival'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, facing i, p. 306 . My comment: curious sad faces again.

    Volume II:


  21. 'Lady Mason Leaving the Court'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, frontispiece to Vol II. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 29-40.
    J. E. Millais, "Lady Mason Leaving the Court", Orley Farm

    First of the series of Lady Mason's ordeal at court and at the Cleeve, all of which are wholly successful and have been reprinted and/or comment on in various books on Trollope and book illustration the Victorian period. Trollope has so many of these scenes where key characters are publicly humiliated.


  22. 'John Kenneby and Miriam Dockwrath'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 10. My comment: the wizened, poverty-striken, and trapped expression on Miriam's face right -- as well as her strained attempt at a good-natured expression and her shabby clothes.

  23. 'Guilty'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p . 32. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 29-40; also reprinted in Markwick, AT and Women, p. 55. See discussion of analogous scene illustrated by Francis Arthur Fraser in The Golden Lion of Granpère in Trollop on the Net, Chapter 6.
    J. E. Millais, "Guilt," Orley Farm

  24. 'Lady Mason after her Confession'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 40. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 29-40:

    John Everett Millais, "Lady Mason after her Confession"


    A picture of a woman in a poverty-striken room, clutching her shawl around her; all in dark shadows, her face downwards in still despair; together with Marcus Stone's depiction of Louis Trevelyan at the close of He Knew He Was Right, 'Trevelyan at Casalunga' (see Annotated Commentary 3 below), among the very best of the original illustrations to all Trollope's novels. It ought to be better known.


  25. 'Bread Sauce is so ticklish'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, ii, p. 48. The expression on the face of the female recalls the inane smile seen on archaic Greek statues.

  26. 'Never is a very long word'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 76. The depiction of shamefastness in the young girl has dignity and repose; the mother looks concerned; there is intelligence in the faces.

  27. '"Tom", she said, "I have come back". Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 88. This one recalls Millais's depiction of a crisis between the Robarts's ('"Mark", she said, "the men are here"', see above). The only problem is Mrs Furnival is again made too young. He is too tensed up. Millais's pictures are constantly slipping into irritation when he wants simple distress and stoic shared pity and admission of vulnerability.

  28. 'Lady Mason going before the Magistrates'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 96 Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 29-40. My comment: loving attention to luxurious dress and withdrawn expression on face has the effect of making her a somewhat repressed trophy for rich people, not a woman in distress and embarrassment.

  29. 'Sir Peregrine at Mr Round's Office'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 126. Now Sir Peregrine looks too old,and Mr Round too round and somehow effeminate (the blond curly hair is overdone). >hr>

  30. '"Tell me, Madelaine, are you happy now?"'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 144:

    John Everett Millais, "Judge Staveley and his daughter"


    This is a remarkable depiction of imminent loss retrieved; the old man is gallant and strong, the girl looks up to him with quiet trust. See my Trollope on the Net, Chapter 6.


  31. "No surrender". Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 148. See Michael Mason, 'The Way We Look Now: Millais' Illustrations to Trollope', Art History, 1 (1978), pp. 313-25.

    Rhe relationship between the two male Ormes brought forward. The young man's face looks too sour, something


    wet about it.

  32. 'Mr Chaffanbrass and Mr Solomon Aram'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 172. Reprinted Hall, AT and His Illustrators, p. 46; Trollopiana, 27, p. 12; see also Mason, 'The Way We Look Now', pp. 313-25:
    John Everett Millais, "Mr Chaffanbrass and Mr Solomon Aram",


    The faces are lively and there is an alertness about gestures; problem for modern viewer is implied anti-semitism in the exaggerated features of the faces.

  33. 'The Court'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 190. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 29-40; see also Mason, 'The Way We Look Now', pp. 313-25:

    John Everett Millais, "The Court", Orley Farm


    Another of those illustrations which stand out among the all the original ones of the novels as peculiarly delicate in its psychological depictions and strong in its lines, composition, and shadowings. Superb.


  34. 'The Drawing-Room at Noningsby'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 202. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 47-48:

    John Everett Millais, "Drawing-Room at Noningsby", Orley Farm


    Quiet effectiveness of ordinary scene of people sitting around fire; very real somehow. To be compared with a number of scenes George Housman Thomas drew for The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire (see Annotated Commentary 2 below), especially, 'Grace Crawley reads her letter, "She read the beginning -- 'Dearest Grace'"'.


  35. '"And how are they all at Noningsby?"'. Source: 1981 Dover Orley Farm, ii, p. 206. My comment: what is meant for an expression of overt anxiousness is lost in the translation from the woodcut to the print.

  36. '"How Can I Bear It?"'. Source: 1981 Dover OrleyFarm, ii, p. 240. Depiction of strain beyond endurance becomes one of theatrical hysteria and is not moving in the way intended. Lady Mason holds her head in a way that makes us think of someone with a bad headache.

  37. 'Bridget Bolster in Court'. Source: 1981 Dover OrleyFarm, ii, p. 246. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 29-40. We see the male authority figures arrayed from Lady Mason's standpoint.

  38. 'Lucius Mason, as he leaned on the Gate that was no longer his own' 1981 Dover OrleyFarm, ii, p 264.
    John Everett Millais, "Lucius Mason, as he leaned on the GAte that was no longer his own, Orley Farm


    This depiction of absorption in a landscape centering on Lucius's lose ought to be better known; see Trollope on the Net, Chapter 6. It is Trollope himself as a young man; so many of these picture figure forth his inner life.


  39. 'Farewell!' Source: 1981 Dover OrleyFarm, ii, p. 304 Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 29-40; Mason, 'The Way We Look Now' does justice to this lyrical depiction of the two grieving women parting, a scene, as he points out, only made possibly by Trollope's text, not one he dramatises, pp 316-19. The picture of the two women's yearning escapes the moralism of the event.

    John Everett Millais, "Farewell", Orley Farm


  40. 'Farewell'. Source: 1981 Dover OrleyFarm, ii, p. 310. Again see Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 29-40; Mason, 'The Way We Look Now', pp. 316-19.
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  The Small House at Allington, Rachel Ray, Tales of All Countries and Can You Forgive her
  The Three Clerks, Miss Mackenzie and The Claverings
  The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire

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