AustLit

In October 1838 Boz Jun. advertised in Sydney newspapers for subscriptions for a proposed 24 part work based on Charles Dickens' The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

At least the first two numbers of the work were published by James Tegg on 1 November and 1 December 1838. The first part was sixteen pages long and the second part 24 pages long. Each number cost one shilling.

The Australian newspaper of 26 January 1839 (3) advertised a third number of the work but with no details on publisher, pagination or price.

Advertisements for the parts were published in the Australian and Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser newspapers in October, November and December 1838.

This work was written by James Martin using the pseudonym ' Boz Jun.' 'Rolf Boldrewood' in a biographical piece on the 'life-careers of my school-comrades' published in his selected work In Bad Company and Other Stories writes: 'The first numbers of Pickwick appearing about that time, in green covers, if I mistake not, Martin commenced a tale, embodying a similar style of incident. I forget the title now, but some numbers were printed. It was a boy's audacious imitation, but even at this distance of time I recall the undoubted ability of his performance. Part of the action was laid in London ...'

Elizabeth Webby in 'English Literature in Early Australia: 1830-1839', published in Southerly in March 1976, cites a 'Literary Notice' published in the Colonist newspaper of 5 January 1839. The 'Notice' announces that 'the Australian Pickwick, which was lately started by Mr. Martin, of the Sketch Book, is about to be resumed.' The reason for the delay 'was the protracted indisposition of the author, who has been suffering from a severe attack of catarrh or influenza...' There was an influenza epidemic in Sydney in the last few months of 1838.

Source: 'Rolf Boldrewood'. 'My School Days'. In Bad Company and Other Stories (London: Macmillan and Co., 1901): 360; 'Literary Notice'. The Colonist (5 January 1829): 2; Webby, Elizabeth. 'English Literature in Early Australia: 1830-1839'. Southerly, Vol. 36, No. 1, (March 1976): 73-87