There was no serial issue of Pickwick Papers in May 1837. Dickens was mourning the sudden death of his seventeenyearold sisterinlay, Mary Hogarth

Edward G. Pettit with cohost Courtney Krolczyk
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For the only time in his life, Dickens missed the deadline for a serial part, so we have no issue to discuss this month. Instead we’ll talk about Mary Hogarth, how her death affected Dickens, and how she was memorialized in his later works. We’ll also see a letter from the Rosenbach’s collections in which he recounts her death.

Mary Hogarth, the seventeenyearold sister of Dickens’ wife Kate, came to stay with the couple in their new home at 48 Doughty Street. On the evening of May 6, 1837, Dickens, his parents, Kate, and Mary went to the theatre to see a production of Is She His Wife?, a comic burletta written by Dickens. Shortly after arriving home, Mary unexpectedly collapsed and died the next day (in the arms of Charles). The author’s grief was extraordinary, even by the standards of Victorian mourning practices. He wore her ring on his finger for the rest of life, wished to one day be buried alongside her, and composed her epitaph: “Young, beautiful, and good. God in His mercy numbered her with His angels at the early age of seventeen.” Mary Hogarth’s death and spirit came to be memorialized in Dickens’ works, especially Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop.

More on Mary Hogarth here by Philip V. Allingham, Contributing Editor, Victorian Web
https://victorianweb.org/authors/dick...

Join the Rosenbach Museum and Library 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 (23 chapters per month) from March 1836October 1837. Edward G. Pettit and a rotating set of Dickensian cohosts will talk about each serialized part once a month from March 2023October 2024. You will relive Dickens’ funniest novel just as his first readers did.

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.

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University of Victoria Library Serials Collection
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