Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People was published in two series by John Macrone (First Series, February 1836) and Chapman and Hall (Second Series, December 1836), with illustrations by George Cruikshank. It was Dickens’s first book — a collection of fifty-six short pieces of journalism originally published in various London periodicals, under the pseudonym “Boz” (a family nickname derived from his younger brother’s pronunciation of “Moses”).
The Book
The sketches divide into four categories: “Our Parish” (satirical portraits of local officials and busybodies), “Scenes” (vivid descriptions of London locations — Monmouth Street, Astley’s circus, Greenwich Fair, the pawnbroker’s shop), “Characters” (London types — the omnibus cad, the dancing academy proprietor, the gin-shop habitué), and “Tales” (short fictions, including early experiments in the pathos and melodrama that would characterize the novels).
The London that emerges from these sketches is the London Dickens would spend his career describing: crowded, noisy, theatrical, simultaneously comic and threatening. The observation is already extraordinary — the young Dickens had walked every street, visited every institution, and watched every social class with the intensity of a man who knew he was going to write about all of it.
Collecting Sketches by Boz
First edition, First Series (John Macrone, London, February 1836): Two volumes, dark green cloth. Illustrated by George Cruikshank with 16 plates.
First edition, Second Series (John Macrone, London, December 1836): One volume, pink cloth. Cruikshank illustrations.
Market values:
- First Series, two vols., fine: $8,000–$25,000
- Second Series, fine: $3,000–$8,000
- Complete set (both series): $12,000–$35,000
As Dickens’s first book, Sketches by Boz is the foundation of any Dickens collection. The Cruikshank illustrations are integral to the book’s identity and must be present and in good condition.