The adventures of the immortal Pickwick Club, headed by good Mr. Pickwick himself, have kept readers laughing for nearly two centuries. Following the intrepidly bumbling Pickwickians along the highways and byways of old England, Charles Dickens creates a vivid world of highwaymen, duels, lawsuits, jails, and hilarious romantic imbroglios—but a world too of deeply affecting human warmth and generosity. Filled with a host of indelible characters, [viii] The Pickwick Papers has never ceased to enjoy the popularity it won with its initial publication—when it rocketed its author to sudden fame and launched a career without equal in the history of the English novel.