Pickwick Monthly (online)

Join us for a monthly journey through Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club was the first serialized novel written by  Dickens and was published in 20 monthly parts (2-3 chapters per month) from March 1836-October 1837. Edward G. Pettit and a rotating set of Dickensian cohosts will talk about each serialized part once a month from March 2023-October 2024. You will relive Dickens’ funniest novel just as his first readers did. This program is free for anyone to watch (live or recorded) on the Rosenbach’s YouTube channel, however, if you register, you will receive monthly email updates, plus links to pdfs of the original serial as it was published with illustrations and advertisements and lots more Dickensian fun.

The Rosenbach has in its collections the complete serial issues of The Pickwick Papers, a portion of the Pickwick manuscript, as well as many first editions, the earliest surviving literary manuscript, letters, ephemera, and a lock of Charles Dickens’ hair.

Episodes stream live on the third or fourth Saturday of every month, 2:00-4:00 pm ET, with the recordings available to watch on the Rosenbach’s YouTube channel: Pickwick Monthly.

About the Host

Edward G. Pettit is the Sunstein Senior Manager of Public Programs at the Rosenbach and has been presenter for the weekly Biblioventures series: Sundays with Dracula, Sundays with Frankenstein, Sundays with Jane Eyre, and Austen Mondays: Pride and Prejudice. Pettit has taught many reading courses at the Rosenbach, including Nicholas Nickleby, Bleak House, and Dickens’ Christmas Books. He is a member of the Dickens Fellowship, the Philadelphia Pickwick Club, and in 2012, was the Charles Dickens Ambassador for the Free Library of Philadelphia’s year-long bicentenary celebration of Dickens’ birth. When not reading, he can be found working on his TARDIS so he can return to the Nineteenth Century.

Meet the cohosts here

Schedule

March 25, 2023 – No. 1 Chs 1-2

pdf No. 1 of Pickwick Papers

(all serial parts courtesy of the University of Victoria Library)

April 22, 2023 – No. 2 Chs 3-5

pdf No. 2 of Pickwick Papers

May 20, 2023 – No. 3 Chs 6-8

June 24, 2023 – No. 4 Chs 9-11

July 15, 2023 – No. 5 Chs 12-14

August 19, 2023 – No. 6 Chs 15-17

September 23, 2023 – No. 7 Chs 18-20

October 21, 2023 – No. 8 Chs 21-23

November 18, 2023 – No. 9 Chs 24-26

December 16, 2023 – No. 10 Chs 27-29

January 20, 2024 – No. 11 Chs 30-32

February 17, 2024 – No. 12 Chs 33-34

March 16, 2024 – No 13. Chs 35-37

April 20, 2024 – No 14. Chs 38-40

May 18, 2024 – no issue because of the death of Mary Hogarth, but we’ll have a show talking about this

June 22, 2024 – No 15. Chs 41-43

July 20, 2024 – No. 16 Chs 44-46

August 17, 2024 – No. 17 Chs 47-49

September 21, 2024 – No. 18 Chs 50-52

October 19, 2024 – Nos. 19-20 Chs 53-57