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The Pickwick Papers
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The Pickwick Papers Mass market paperbound - 1998

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.


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From the publisher

Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title--offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.

This edition of The Pickwick Papers includes a Foreword, Biographical Note, and Afterword by Nancy Springer.

The Pickwick Club was founded by the most learned minds in London for the purpose of making a scientific tour of the world. Its distinguished members include Mr. Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.PC., presiding; Augustus Snodgrass; Nathaniel Winkle; and Tracy Tupman, Esq. Yet no sooner have these gentlemen begun their historic journey than they are set upon by a charming but notorious con man, Alfred Jingle. So begins a series of hilarious misadventures that takes the incorrigibly innocent Pickwicks wandering around England, coming in contact with some of the most colorful and comical characters in all fiction, including Dr. Slammer, Dismal Jemmy Hutley, Job Trotter, Wilkins Flasher, and Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz.

This was Dickens' first novel--and remains his funniest and most loved.

First line

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.

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.

Details

  • Title The Pickwick Papers
  • Author Charles Dickens
  • Binding Mass Market Paperbound
  • Pages 960
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Tor Classics
  • Publication date November 15, 1998
  • ISBN 9780812567199 / 0812567196
  • Weight 0.93 lbs (0.42 kg)
  • Dimensions 6.75 x 4.17 x 1.63 in (17.15 x 10.59 x 4.14 cm)
  • Age range 13 to 18 years
  • Grade levels 8 - 13
  • Reading level 1160
  • Category Young Adult Fiction
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 99610606
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About the author

Considered by many to be the greatest novelist of the English language, Charles John Hummham Dickens was born Februrary 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England. Some of his most populars works include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.

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