Shortlisted for the HWA Goldsboro Debut Crown It is 31 March 1836. A new monthly periodical is launched entitled The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Conceived and created by the artist Robert Seymour, it contains four of his illustrations. The words to accompany them are written by a young journalist, under the pen-name Boz. The journalist's real name is Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers soon becomes a phenomenal, unprecedented sensation, read and discussed by the entire British Isles. Before long, its success is worldwide. Stephen Jarvis's novel tells of the dawning of the age of global celebrity. It is a story of colossal triumph and of the depths of tragedy, based on real events - and an expose of how an ambitious young writer stole another man's ideas.

In The Pickwick Papers we are introduced not just to one of the greatest writers in the English language, but to some of fiction's most endearing and memorable characters, starting with the 'illustrious, immortal and colossal-minded' Samuel Pickwick himself. It is a rollicking tour de force through an England on the brink of the Victorian era. Reform of government, justice and commercial life are imminent, as are rail travel, social convulsion and the death of deference, but Pickwick sails through on a tide of delirious adventure, fortifying us for the future - whatever it might throw at us. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition is illustrated by H. K. Browne ('Phiz'), with an afterword by Ned Halley. Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Charles Dickens’s satirical masterpiece, The Pickwick Papers, catapulted the young writer into literary fame when it was first serialized in 1836–37. It recounts the rollicking adventures of the members of the Pickwick Club as they travel about England getting into all sorts of mischief. Laugh-out-loud funny and endlessly entertaining, the book also reveals Dickens’s burgeoning interest in the parliamentary system, lawyers, the Poor Laws, and the ills of debtors’ prisons. As G. K. Chesterton noted, “Before [Dickens] wrote a single real story, he had a kind of vision . . . a map full of fantastic towns, thundering coaches, clamorous market-places, uproarious inns, strange and swaggering figures. That vision was Pickwick.”

Samuel Pickwick, the eponymous hero of Charles Dickens's first novel, longs to explore the world outside London's gates. He enlists the participation of three friends--the Pickwickians, as they come to call themselves--and in their travels they encounter a wide swath of their English countrymen, including Pickwick's quick-witted foil, Sam Weller. In true Dickensian style, The Pickwick Papers is richly colored with quotidian detail, both celebrating and skewering life in Victorian England, and it showcases Dickens's particular gift for finding humor in the most unexpected moments. This is a free digital copy of a book that has been carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. To make this print edition available as an ebook, we have extracted the text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and submitted it to a review process to ensure its accuracy and legibility across different screen sizes and devices. Google is proud to partner with libraries to make this book available to readers everywhere.

Step into a world of merriment and mischief with Charles Dickens's "The Pickwick Papers"! Join the eccentric Mr. Pickwick and his loyal companions on a delightful journey through the English countryside. Their Pickwick Club, dedicated to scholarly pursuits of the utmost silliness, leads them on a whirlwind of misadventures. From hilarious encounters at inns and cricket matches to chaotic soirees and unexpected romances, prepare to be swept away by Dickens's wit and unforgettable characters. Will Mr. Pickwick's good intentions land him in hot water? Buckle up for a classic tale of laughter, satire, and the absurdity of human nature.