The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (also known as The Pickwick Papers) was the first novel by English author Charles Dickens, first published in serial form from March 1836 to November 1837. Because of his success with Sketches by Boz published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to supply descriptions to explain a series of comic "cockney sporting plates" by illustrator Robert Seymour, and to connect them into a novel. The book became a publishing phenomenon, with bootleg copies, theatrical performances, Sam Weller joke books, and other merchandise. 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."C. Dickens, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1867 reprint), p.8
Background
Dickens was working as a parliamentary reporter and a roving journalist at the age of 24, and he had published a collection of sketches on London life as Sketches by Boz. Publisher Chapman & Hall was projecting a series of "cockney sporting plates" by illustrator Robert Seymour. There was to be a club, the members of which were to be sent on hunting and fishing expeditions into the country. Their guns were to go off by accident, and fishhooks were to get caught in their hats and trousers, and these and other misadventures were to be depicted in Seymour's comic plates. They asked Dickens to supply the description necessary to explain the plates and to connect them into a sort of picture novel that was fashionable at the time. He protested that he knew nothing of sport, but still accepted the commission.
Only in a few instances did Dickens adjust his narrative to plates that had been prepared for him. Typically, he led the way with an instalment of his story, and the artist was compelled to illustrate what Dickens had already written. The story thus became the prime source of interest and the illustrations merely of secondary importance. Seymour provided the illustrations for the first two instalments before his suicide. Robert William Buss illustrated the third instalment, but Dickens did not like his work, so the remaining instalments were illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne), who illustrated most of Dickens's subsequent novels. The instalments were first published in book form in 1837.
Summary The Pickwick Papers is a sequence of loosely related adventures written for serialization in a periodical. The action is given as occurring 1827–28, though critics have noted some seeming anachronisms.Mark Wormald (2003) "Introduction" to The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. London, Penguin. For example, Dickens satirized the case of George Norton suing Lord Melbourne in 1836.
The novel's protagonist Samuel Pickwick, Esquire is a kind and wealthy old gentleman, the founder and perpetual president of the Pickwick Club. Bored with the club's usual sporting activities, he suggests that he and the three other "Pickwickians" should make journeys to places remote from London and compose reports of what they see and experience. Their travels throughout the English countryside by coach provide the chief subject matter of the novel.Mark Wormald (2003) "Introduction" to The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. London, Penguin A romantic misunderstanding with his landlady, the widow Mrs Bardell, results in one of the most famous legal cases in English literature, Bardell v. Pickwick,Bander, Edward J. Bardell v. Pickwick Transnational Publishers (2004), Fitzgerald, Percy Hetherington. Full text of Bardell v. Pickwick, (1902) Project Gutenberg eBook leading to them both being incarcerated in the Fleet Prison for debt.Characters In The Pickwick Papers: Mrs Bardell, Charles Dickens Info website
Pickwick learns that the only way he can relieve the suffering of Mrs Bardell is by paying her costs in the action against himself, thus at the same time releasing himself from the prison.
Characters
Central characters
Samuel Pickwick – the protagonist and founder of the Pickwick Club. Following his description in the text, Pickwick is usually portrayed by illustrators as a round-faced, clean-shaven, portly gentleman wearing spectacles. Nathaniel Winkle – a young friend of Pickwick's and his travelling companion; he considers himself a sportsman, though he turns out to be dangerously inept when handling horses and guns. Augustus Snodgrass – another young friend and companion; he considers himself a poet, though there is no mention of any of his own poetry in the novel. Tracy Tupman – the third travelling companion, a fat and middle-aged man who nevertheless considers himself a romantic lover. Sam Weller – Mr Pickwick's valet, and a source of idiosyncratic proverbs and advice Tony Weller – Sam's father, a loquacious coachman Alfred Jingle – a strolling actor and charlatan, noted for telling bizarre anecdotes in a distinctively extravagant, disjointed style.
Supporting characters Joe – the "fat boy" who consumes great quantities of food and constantly falls asleep in any situation at any time of day. Joe's sleep problem is the origin of the medical term Pickwickian syndrome, or obesity hypoventilation syndrome. Most people with obesity hypoventilation syndrome have concurrent obstructive sleep apnea. Job Trotter – Mr Jingle's wily servant, whose true slyness is only ever seen in the first few lines of a scene, before he adopts his usual pretence of meekness Mr Wardle – owner of a farm in Dingley Dell; Mr Pickwick's friend. They meet at the military review in Rochester. Joe is his servant. Rachael Wardle – Mr. Wardle's spinster sister, who tries in vain to elope with the unscrupulous Jingle Mr Perker – an attorney of Mr Wardle, and later of Mr Pickwick Serjeant Buzfuz - the fat, red-faced counsel for the plaintiff in the case of Bardell v. Pickwick. A gifted lawyer who uses his sound grasp of rhetoric and mastery of the innate theatricality of court procedure to transmute the slenderest of evidence into an apparently damning case against the innocent Pickwick. Mary – "a well-shaped female servant" and Sam Weller's "Valentine" Mrs Martha Bardell – Mr Pickwick's widowed landlady who brings a case against him for breach of promise. Emily Wardle – one of Mr Wardle's daughters, very fond of Mr Snodgrass Arabella Allen – a friend of Emily Wardle and sister of Ben Allen. She later elopes with Mr Winkle and marries him. Benjamin "Ben" Allen – Arabella's brother, a dissipated medical student Robert "Bob" Sawyer – Ben Allen's friend and fellow-student Mr Stiggins – the "deputy shepherd", is a red-nosed alcoholic, avaricious and hypocritical Nonconformist minister at the United Grand Junction, Ebenezer Temperance Association, who inadvertently causes the death of the second Mrs Weller
Sequel Pickwick, Sam Weller, and his father Tony briefly reappeared in 1840 in the magazine Master Humphrey's Clock, named after a literary club founded by Mr Humphrey, whose members read out stories to the others. Pickwick is a member, and there is a mirror club in the kitchen, "Mr Weller's Watch", run by Sam Weller.
Adaptations
Theatre There was an early attempt at a theatrical adaptation with songs by W.T. Moncrieff and entitled Samuel Weller, or, The Pickwickians, in 1837. This was followed in 1871 by John Hollingshead's stage play Bardell versus Pickwick. The first successful musical was Pickwick (sometimes Pickwick, A Dramatic Cantata) by Sir Francis Burnand and Edward Solomon and premiered at the Comedy Theatre on 7 February 1889.
Pickwick by Cyril Ornadel, Wolf Mankowitz, and Leslie Bricusse was a musical version which premiered in Manchester in 1963 before transferring to the West End. It originally starred Harry Secombe (later cast as Mr Bumble in the film version of Oliver!) in the title role and Roy Castle as Sam Weller. Although it was a major success in London, running for 694 performances, Pickwick failed in the United States when it opened on Broadway in 1965.
Part of The Pickwick Papers were featured in Charles Dickens's Ghost Stories, a 60-minute animation made by Emerald City Films (1987). These included The Ghost in the Wardrobe, The Mail Coach Ghosts, and The Goblin and the Gravedigger.
Stephen Jarvis's novel Death and Mr Pickwick (2014) is in part a literary thriller, examining in minute detail the question of whether the idea, character and physiognomy of Samuel Pickwick originated with Dickens, or with the original illustrator and instigator of the project, Robert Seymour. The conclusion of the narrator is that the accepted version of events given by Dickens and the publisher Edward Chapman is untrue.Stephen Jarvis, Death and Mr Pickwick, Jonathan Cape, London, 2014 ()
Other media The novel has been adapted many times to film, radio, and television: 1913 – The Pickwick Papers, a silent three-reel film featuring John Bunny as Samuel Pickwick 1921 – The Adventures of Mr Pickwick, a silent lost film, starring Frederick Volpe and Hubert Woodward 1936 – On 13 November 1936, less than two weeks after the BBC began regularly scheduled television broadcasts, The British Music Drama Opera Company under the direction of Vladimir Rosing presented the world's first televised opera: Pickwick by Albert Coates.Herbert, Stephen A., History of Early Television Vol 2., (2004), p. 86-87. Routledge. 1938 – The Pickwick Papers, Orson Welles's 20 November 1938 radio adaptation for Mercury Theater on the Air 1952 – starring James Hayter, Nigel Patrick, Alexander Gauge, and Harry Fowler (the first sound film version, and to this day, the only sound version of the story released to cinemas) 1968 — BBC Radio 4 produced Bardell v. Pickwick by Charles Dickens, a dramatization by Michael and Mollie Hardwick starring Jim Dale as Sam Weller and Moray Watson as Mr PickwickBBC Radio 4 Hidden Treasures: Bardell v. Pickwick by Charles Dickens 1969 — the BBC filmed the London West End musical as a television film Pickwick with Secombe and Castle reprising their stage roles, both the stage and television versions featured the song If I Ruled the World, which became a hit for Secombe and other singers such as Tony Bennett and Sammy Davis Jr. 1977 — BBC Radio 4 released a dramatization by Barry Campbell and Constance Cox with Freddie Jones as Mr Pickwick 1985 — BBC Television released a 12-part, mini-series running to 350 minutes (almost 6 hours) starring Nigel Stock, Alan Parnaby, Clive Swift, and Patrick Malahide 1985 – an animated adaptation 1997 — BBC Radio 4 released a dramatization by Martyn Read with Clive Francis as Mr Pickwick.
Publication
The novel was published in 19 issues over 20 months;Kremers, A Comparative Bibliography of the Sheets and Publishers’ Cloth Cases of the Demy Octavo Works of Charles Dickens, 1837–1872, p. 55, Table 5. the last was double-length and cost two shillings. In mourning for his sister-in-law Mary Hogarth, Dickens missed a deadline and consequently, there was no number issued in June 1837. Numbers were typically issued on the last day of its given month: I — April 1836 (chapters 1–2) II — May 1836 (chapters 3–5) III — June 1836 (chapters 6–8) IV — July 1836 (chapters 9-11) V — August 1836 (chapters 12–14) VI — September 1836 (chapters 15–17) VII — October 1836 (chapters 18–20) VIII — November 1836 (chapters 21–23) IX — December 1836 (chapters 24–26) X — January 1837 (chapters 27–29) XI — February 1837 (chapters 30–32) XII — March 1837 (chapters 33–34) XIII — April 1837 (chapters 35–37) XIV — May 1837 (chapters 38–40)