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In April 1840, Dickens began a new weekly 'miscellany' called Master Humphrey's Clock to be published by Chapman and Hall. Despite initial success and popularity, sales tumbled quickly, and by the seventh number Dickens decided to dedicate the whole journal to what would become his fourth novel, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41). Dickens chose to use wood-engraved illustrations for the project so that the images could be 'dropped into the text' – a decision that meant four illustrators were hired, due to the slower process of producing wood-engravings (as opposed to steel etchings). Daniel Maclise and Samuel Williams produced one image each ('Nell and the Sexton' and 'The Child Asleep in her Bed') while the bulk of the illustrations were given to George Cattermole and Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). Cattermole's illustrations were mostly landscapes and architectural, while Browne's focused more on character. The illustrations below are taken from the 'Authentic Edition' of Dickens's works (1901-1906) and reproduce Browne, Cattermole, Maclise and Williams's original illustrations, with a coloured frontispiece. 

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