The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, better known as The Pickwick Papers, is the first novel by Charles Dickens. It was originally an idea by Robert Seymour, the illustrator, to which Dickens was asked to contribute as an up and coming writer following the success of Sketches by Boz, published in 1836. Dickens, supremely confident as ever, increasingly took over the unsuccessful monthly publication after Seymour had committed suicide.

With the introduction of Sam Weller in chapter 10, the book became the first real publishing phenomenon, with bootleg copies, theatrical performances, Sam Weller joke books and other merchandise.

Plot summary:

Written for publication as a serial, The Pickwick Papers is a sequence of loosely-related adventures. Its main literary value and appeal is formed by its numerous memorable characters. Each character in The Pickwick Papers, as in many other Dickens novels, is drawn comically, often with exaggerated personalities.

The novel's main character, Mr. Samuel Pickwick, is a kind and wealthy old gentleman, the founder of the Pickwick Club. Following his description in the text, he is usually portrayed by illustrators as a round-faced, clean-shaven, portly gentleman wearing spectacles. Mr. Pickwick travels with his friends, Mr. Nathaniel Winkle, Mr. Augustus Snodgrass, and Mr. Tracy Tupman, and their peregrinations through the English countryside provide the chief theme of the novel.

Other notable adventures include Mr. Pickwick's legal case against his landlady, Mrs Bardell, who (through an apparent misunderstanding on her part) is suing him for the breach of promise to marry her. Another is Mr. Pickwick's incarceration at the Fleet for his stubborn refusal to pay the compensation to her; the unscrupulous Dodson and Fogg's law firm prosecuted poor Pickwick.

Mr. Pickwick, Sam Weller, and Weller Senior also appear in Dickens's serial, Master Humphrey's Clock.

Characters in The Pickwick Papers:

Central characters

    * Mr. Samuel Pickwick

        The main protagonist and founder of the Pickwick Club

    * Mr. Nathaniel Winkle

        Traveling companion and friend of Pickwick's; a reluctant sportsman

    * Mr. Augustus Snodgrass

        Another companion and friend; an amiable poet

    * Mr. Tracy Tupman

        Yet another; a very flirtatious man

    * Sam Weller

        Mr. Pickwick's valet

    * Tony Weller

        Sam's father; does not really know if his name is written as Veller or Weller

    * Mr. Alfred Jingle

        A strolling player, and a charlatan

Supporting characters

    * Mrs. Bardell

        Pickwick's landlady

    * 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 which ultimately led to the subsequent description of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome.

    * Mr. Wardle

        Owner of a farm in Dingley Dell. Pickwick's friend. Joe is his servant.

    * Rachael

        The spinster aunt who tries in vain to elope with the unscrupulous Jingle

    * Mr. Perker

        An attorney of Mr. Pickwick

    * Mary

        "A well-shaped female servant" and Sam Weller's "Valentine"

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations:

The novel has been filmed at least three times:

    * 1913 - a silent short starring John Bunny as Pickwick and H. P. Owen as Sam Weller
    * 1921 - The Adventures of Mr Pickwick, silent, starring Frederick Volpe and Hubert Woodward
    * 1952 - starring James Hayter and Harry Fowler (the first and only sound version, so far)

There have also been BBC radio and television adaptations. The first TV adaptation was by Constance Cox.

There was also a London stage musical version entitled Pickwick, by Cyril Ornadel, Wolf Mankowitz, and Leslie Bricusse. It starred Harry Secombe, later to become more famous as Mr. Bumble in the film version of Oliver!. But Pickwick (the musical) was not a success in the United States when it opened there in 1965, and the show was never filmed. It did feature the song If I Ruled the World, which became a modest hit.

Part of the Pickwick Papers featured in Charles Dickens' Ghost Stories, three scarey animated tales on video (60 minutes):The Ghost in the Wardrobe, The Mail Coach Ghosts, and The Goblin and the Gravedigger.

(From wikipedia, the free encyclopeida)

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The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, the Pennsylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA 18201-1291 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them.

Copyright © 2007 The Pennsylvania State University

CHAPTER I
THE PICKWICKIANS

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.

‘May 12, 1827. Joseph Smiggers, Esq., P.V.P.M.P.C. [Perpetual Vice-President—Member Pickwick Club], presiding. The following resolutions unanimously agreed to:—

‘That this Association has heard read, with feelings of unmingled satisfaction, and unqualified approval, the paper communicated by Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C. [General Chairman—Member Pickwick Club], entitled “Speculations on the Source of the Hampstead Ponds, with some Observations on the Theory of Tittlebats;” and that this Association does hereby return its warmest thanks to the said Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., for the same.

‘That while this Association is deeply sensible of the advantages which must accrue to the cause of science, from the production to which they have just adverted—no less than from the unwearied researches of Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., in Hornsey, Highgate, Brixton, and Camberwell—they cannot but entertain a lively sense of the inestimable benefits which must inevitably result from carrying the speculations of that learned man into a wider field, from extending his travels, and, consequently, enlarging his sphere of observation, to the advancement of knowledge, and the diffusion of learning.

‘That, with the view just mentioned, this Association has taken into its serious consideration a proposal, emanating from the aforesaid, Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., and three other Pickwickians hereinafter named, for forming a new branch of United Pickwickians, under the title of The Corresponding Society of the Pickwick Club.

‘That the said proposal has received the sanction and approval of this Association. ‘That the Corresponding Society of the Pickwick Club is therefore hereby constituted; and that Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., Tracy Tupman, Esq., M.P.C., Augustus Snodgrass, Esq., M.P.C., and Nathaniel Winkle, Esq., M.P.C., are hereby nominated and appointed members of the same; and that they be requested to forward, from time to time, authenticated accounts of their journeys and investigations, of their observations of character and manners, and of the whole of their adventures, together with all tales and papers to which local scenery or associations may give rise, to the Pickwick Club, stationed in London. ...

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