The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club -
Charles Dickens, Hablot Knight Browne “Phiz”, Robert Seymour (Illustrators)
1837 - Chapman and Hall, London - First Edition, Mixed Issue
First edition, in contemporary binding, possibly the publisher’s deluxe binding, bound from the original parts. Illustrated with 43 engraved plates, nine by Robert Seymour, and the balance including the frontispiece and engraved title page, by Hablot Knight Browne.
‘The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club’ was the first novel by Charles Dickens, initially serialised from March 1836 to November 1837. ‘A comic masterpiece that catapulted its twenty-four-year-old author to immediate fame. Readers were captivated by the adventures of the poet Snodgrass, the sportsman Winkle and, above all, by that quintessentially English Quixote, Mr Pickwick, and his cockney Sancho Panza, Sam Weller. From the hallowed turf of Dingley Dell Cricket Club to the unholy fracas of the Eatanswill election.’ At the time Dickens was working as a parliamentary reporter and was commissioned by his publisher, Chapman & Hall, to create a narrative around a series of comical illustrations by Robert Seymour. The origins of the story itself are controversial, as Seymour has generally received credit for the central idea by everyone except for Dickens himself, who claimed that because the story continued following Seymour's death only a few months into the serialisation he clearly did not have very much influence. After Seymour's suicide, an inexperienced Robert William Buss was hastily employed by Chapman & Hall, but both Dickens and his publishers were unhappy with the two plates he produced, after which, Hablot Knight Browne was commissioned, redrew the two plates (as in this copy), and the legendary partnership of “Boz” (Dickens) and “Phiz” (Knight Browne) was launched.
Provenance: Arthur Thompson, with his armourial bookplate ‘Nosce Te Ipsum’.
With regards to the possibility of this being a publisher’s deluxe design, Chapman & Hall offered three bindings for The Pickwick Papers: calf, half calf, and cloth, as well as a set of "super-bound" deluxe bindings for Dickens to present as gifts, with most but not all bound by Hayday.
References: Hatton and Cleaver, Periodical Works of Charles Dickens, 3-88. Penguin Classics. Eckel, First Editions of the Writings of Charles Dickens, 23-50. Walter Smith, Charles Dickens in the Original Cloth, Part I, 3. Christie’s, Kenyon Starling Library of Charles Dickens, Lots 19-20.
Large thick octavo (binding size 21.9x14.3cm), pp. [4] iii-xiv [2 (directions to binder / errata)] 609 [3].
Collated 7/2026 - total 43 engraved plates including - frontis/illustrated title page, and plates opposite pages 2, 7, 9, 17, 31, 38, 47, 73, 76, 89, 94, 117, 32, 154, 159, 197, 201, 223, 233, 244, 265, 296, 301, 313, 326, 343, 358, 382, 391, 409, 434, 441, 453, 484, 498, 504, 523, 533, 553, 579, 590. Bound in contemporary full polished plum calf, smooth spine with gilt-stamped Baroque design of acanthus leaves enclosing gilt lettering, quadruple gilt filet border with acanthus leaf decoration to boards, gilt decorated edges, turn ins decorated in blind, marbled endpapers, and page edges. Condition: Text generally clean throughout, with only one or two small smudges and marks, some offsetting from text to plate, becoming heavier from page 390 onwards, in near fine binding, light rubbing to boards, some cracking of the glaze to spine. Ref: 112622 Price: HK$ 19,000
‘The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club’ was the first novel by Charles Dickens, initially serialised from March 1836 to November 1837. ‘A comic masterpiece that catapulted its twenty-four-year-old author to immediate fame. Readers were captivated by the adventures of the poet Snodgrass, the sportsman Winkle and, above all, by that quintessentially English Quixote, Mr Pickwick, and his cockney Sancho Panza, Sam Weller. From the hallowed turf of Dingley Dell Cricket Club to the unholy fracas of the Eatanswill election.’ At the time Dickens was working as a parliamentary reporter and was commissioned by his publisher, Chapman & Hall, to create a narrative around a series of comical illustrations by Robert Seymour. The origins of the story itself are controversial, as Seymour has generally received credit for the central idea by everyone except for Dickens himself, who claimed that because the story continued following Seymour's death only a few months into the serialisation he clearly did not have very much influence. After Seymour's suicide, an inexperienced Robert William Buss was hastily employed by Chapman & Hall, but both Dickens and his publishers were unhappy with the two plates he produced, after which, Hablot Knight Browne was commissioned, redrew the two plates (as in this copy), and the legendary partnership of “Boz” (Dickens) and “Phiz” (Knight Browne) was launched.
Provenance: Arthur Thompson, with his armourial bookplate ‘Nosce Te Ipsum’.
With regards to the possibility of this being a publisher’s deluxe design, Chapman & Hall offered three bindings for The Pickwick Papers: calf, half calf, and cloth, as well as a set of "super-bound" deluxe bindings for Dickens to present as gifts, with most but not all bound by Hayday.
References: Hatton and Cleaver, Periodical Works of Charles Dickens, 3-88. Penguin Classics. Eckel, First Editions of the Writings of Charles Dickens, 23-50. Walter Smith, Charles Dickens in the Original Cloth, Part I, 3. Christie’s, Kenyon Starling Library of Charles Dickens, Lots 19-20.
Large thick octavo (binding size 21.9x14.3cm), pp. [4] iii-xiv [2 (directions to binder / errata)] 609 [3].
Collated 7/2026 - total 43 engraved plates including - frontis/illustrated title page, and plates opposite pages 2, 7, 9, 17, 31, 38, 47, 73, 76, 89, 94, 117, 32, 154, 159, 197, 201, 223, 233, 244, 265, 296, 301, 313, 326, 343, 358, 382, 391, 409, 434, 441, 453, 484, 498, 504, 523, 533, 553, 579, 590. Bound in contemporary full polished plum calf, smooth spine with gilt-stamped Baroque design of acanthus leaves enclosing gilt lettering, quadruple gilt filet border with acanthus leaf decoration to boards, gilt decorated edges, turn ins decorated in blind, marbled endpapers, and page edges. Condition: Text generally clean throughout, with only one or two small smudges and marks, some offsetting from text to plate, becoming heavier from page 390 onwards, in near fine binding, light rubbing to boards, some cracking of the glaze to spine. Ref: 112622 Price: HK$ 19,000