Sketches By Boz - The History of "Boz"

The History of "Boz"

The sketch, "Mr. Minns and his Cousin", (originally titled "A Dinner at Poplar Walk") was the author's first published work of fiction. It appeared in The Monthly Magazine in December, 1833. Although Dickens continued to place pieces in the magazine, none of them bore a signature until August 1834, when "The Boarding House" appeared in The Monthly Magazine using the strange pen-name "Boz". A verse in the March 1837 issue of Bentley's Miscellany recalls the public's perplexity at the time regarding the author's pseudonym:

"Who the dickens 'Boz' could be

Puzzled many a learned elf,

Till time unveiled the mystery,

And 'Boz' appeared as Dickens' self."

Dickens took his famous pseudonym from a nickname he had given his younger brother Augustus, whom he called "Moses" (after a character in Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield), which "being facetiously pronounced through the nose" became "Boses", which in turn was shortened to "Boz". The name remained coupled with "inimitable" until "Boz" eventually disappeared and Dickens became known as, simply, "The Inimitable". The name was originally pronounced /ˈboʊz/ but is now usually /ˈbɒz/.