Firm Friends

Firm friends

In this image by the illustrator Frederick Barnard, Barnaby Rudge is looking affectionately at his pet raven, Grip. Set in 1780, the novel examines political unrest through the anti-Catholic Gordon riots, and is one of only two historical novels written by Dickens. Grip the raven adds to the gothic nature of the book.

Pen and ink sketch of ‘Barnaby Rudge and Grip the Raven’ by Fred Barnard, c.1885. DH384.15.