Pickwick Penny Press "Plagiarisms"

Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers (1837-38) was the author's break-out hit; it was also the first "novel" of the Victorian period that achieved tremendous popular success through serialization. At the time, Dickens was a young upstart author who went by the name of Boz. The project was initially imagined as a series of illustrations for which the text would be secondary, but Dickens quickly overtook Pickwick Papers after the first illustrator's death. Pickwick began as a series of episodic tales of the Pickwick Club, but throughout serialization, the project eventually achieved a plot trajectory (the Bardell breach of promise suit) that critics have subsequently described as more novelistic.

Pickwick is undeniably a landmark in the history of the Victorian serial novel; however, we less often talk about the shadow market of "plagiarisms" that Pickwick produced. Dickens was notoriously frustrated at the imitators who sought to take advantage of Pickwick's success by publishing continuations, adaptations, supplementations, and, sometimes, substitutions.

Edward Lloyd published many of these kinds of "plagiarisms." Lloyd employed "hacks" who wrote material quickly so that Lloyd could publish it cheaply for the working classes. The most famous Pickwick "plagiarism" is perhaps Pickwick in America (1837-38), written by "Bos"--the pseudonym used by Thomas Peckett Prest. It is my contention that Pickwick in America is better treated as an adaptation rather than imitation, since Prest creates an independent plot.

Indeed, while most of these texts are referred to as plagiarism (following Victorian and mid-twentieth century critics), plagiarism may not be the correct term considering that the activities of Lloyd and his authors were not illegal. There was no copyright on characters at the time. Dickens lost several lawsuits arguing the point.

While this material has so far been treated as part of the penny press, which published material intended for the poorer working classes, my archival research has revealed that not all of the "plagiarisms" were sold at the penny price point. Some were sold for a shilling--which implies that the activity of adapting and continuing characters and stories was not isolated to the working classes, but also enjoyed by middle class audiences who could afford to pay a shilling for an installment.