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The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, Fiction, Literary Hardcover - 2004

Name: The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, Fiction, Literary
Price: 37.21 GBP
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Author: Charles Dickens
ISBN: 9780809597710

by Charles Dickens

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About this book

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (commonly known as The Pickwick Papers) is the first novel published by Charles Dickens. The Posthumous Papers Of The Pickwick Club catapulted the 24-year-old author to immediate fame. Readers were captivated by the adventures of the poet Snodgrass, the lover Tupman, the sportsman Winkle &, above all, by that quintessentially English Quixote, Mr. Pickwick, & his cockney Sancho Panza, Sam Weller. From the hallowed turf of Dingley Dell Cricket Club to the unholy fracas of the Eatanswill election, via the Fleet debtor’s prison, characters & incidents sprang to life from Dickens’s pen, to form an enduringly popular work of ebullient humor & literary invention

The novel was published in 19 issues over 20 months by Chapman and Hall, London in 1836.

After the publication the widow of illustrator Robert Seymour claimed that the idea for the novel was originally her husband's; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any specific input, writing that "Mr. Seymour never originated or suggested an incident, a phrase, or a word, to be found in the book.

From the publisher

The first ray of light which illumines the gloom, and converts into a dazzling brilliancy that obscurity in which the earlier history of the public career of the immortal Pickwick would appear to be involved, is derived from the perusal of the following entry in the Transactions of the Pickwick Club, which the editor of these papers feels the highest pleasure in laying before his readers, as a proof of the careful attention, indefatigable assiduity, and nice discrimination, with which his search among the multifarious documents confided to him has been conducted. "May 12, 1827. Joseph Smiggers, Esq., P.V.P.M.P.C. (that is, the Perpetual Vice-President -- Member Pickwick Club), presiding. The following resolutions unanimously agreed to: -- "That this Association has heard read, with feelings of unmingled satisfaction, and unqualified approval, the paper communicated by Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C. (the General Chairman -- Member Pickwick Club), entitled 'Speculations on the Source of the Hampstead Ponds, with some Observations on the Theory of Tittlebats;' and that this Association does hereby return its warmest thanks to the said Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., for the same. . . ."

First Edition Identification

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club first published in book format in 1837 by Chapman & Hall, London. It was illustrated with 43 engraved plates by R. Seymour and H. T. Browne.