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On this day, 7th February, Charles Dickens (1812-1870), renowned novelist and social commentator, was born 206 years ago! While Charles Dickens never visited Australia, he was very interested in the land ‘down under’ – and we were very interested in him! So much so that fans would line the docks waiting for the next shipment of his serials. Tasmanian newspaper editor Henry Dowling seized on the Dickens frenzy and printed and published an 'unauthorised’ version of Dickens’ first novel 'The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club’ (commonly known as 'The Pickwick Papers’) in 25 parts. Henry Dowling also produced lithographed illustrations that appeared some weeks later and were then presented gratis to subscribers. These illustrations, which are signed “Tiz” in a bold imitation of the London issue “Phiz”, are generally considered to have been the work of Jack Briggs, a servant of Dowling. This bound volume claimed that it was “the largest publication which has issued from either the New South Wales or Tasmanian Press.” The State Library of New South Wales holds a complete set of the rare pirated Launceston editions of ’The Pickwick Papers’ (August – December 1838). One edition is pictured, alongside a beautifully bound rare 1937 edition (LONDON: Chapman & Hall, 1837). View the digitised ’The Pickwick Papers’ : -- source link
#charles dickens#pickwick papers#english literature#authors#rare books