The Pickwick Papers

THE PICKWICK PAPERS began as a literary spoof centred around sketches of stock sporting fops by caricaturist Robert Seymour. Following the success of SKETCHES BY BOZ, Dickens was recruited to compose the words which would accompany the illustrations. Dickens quickly made the project his own and created some of his most popular characters: Samuel Pickwick, and his companions Winkle, Augustus Snodgrass, and Tracy Tupman. At the height of its popularity THE PICKWICK PAPERS sold 40,000 copies a month and catapulted the 24 year old Dickens to fame. Edited with an introduction and notes by Mark Wormald. Includes illustrations, maps, a chronology of Dickens' life, explanatory footnotes, suggestions for further readings of literary criticisms and references, as well as a discussion of variant prefaces and original addresses to the reader.