The Pickwick Papers

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (also known as The Pickwick Papers) was the first novel by Charles Dickens. It was published as a serial, in a monthly magazine. In total, there are 19 episodes, published between March 1836 and November 1837. The publisher Chapman & Hall ordered these stories, because Dickens had been successful with  Sketches by Boz, published in 1836. The publisher asked Dickens to explain a series of comic "cockney sporting plates" by illustrator Robert Seymour, and to connect them into a novel. The book became very successful.  On its cultural impact, Nicholas Dames in The Atlantic writes, "'Literature' is not a big enough category for Pickwick. It defined its own, a new one that we have learned to call 'entertainment'." Published in 19 issues over 20 months, the success of The Pickwick Papers popularised serialised fiction and cliffhanger endings.

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

Because it was so successful, there are several adaptations to other media:

 There is a theatre play, called Samuel Weller, or, The Pickwickians, done in 1837
 There's a play called Bardell versus Pickwick, done in 1871
 There are theatre adaptations of 1889 and 1963
 There are a total of 11 movies, produced between 1913 and 1985
 There's a dramatized version for radio, produced in the 1990s.

Category:Books by Charles Dickens
Category:1830s books