The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (also known as The Pickwick Papers) was Charles Dickens' s first novel. Because of his success with of 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 Britain' s first real publishing phenomenon, with bootleg copies, theatrical performances, Sam Weller joke books, and other merchandise.
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."
