Robert Seymour (illustrator) - The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club

The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club

Seymour's characters were popular, but all were lighthearted sporting or political in theme. The thin and large characters he developed were continued into the early life of the Pickwick Papers. There is however considerable controversy about who is intellectually responsible for the creation of the Pickwick Papers. It is agreed by Seymour's widow, the publisher Chapman and Hall Chapman and Hall, and Charles Dickens (1812–70) that the original idea prompting Dickens' writing commission came from Seymour who spoke to his existing publisher (Chapman and Hall) to create a magazine series of sporting illustrations with short written sketches linking them together in some way. The usual method was anecdotal stories. Further he developed the idea of a 'Nimrod Club' of sporting people having adventures as the framework for the sketches and illustrations. This is very much in the line of his already published Seymour's Sketches. For the interested reader it is worth viewing this book on the Gutenberg Press if possible to get a feel for the popular style involved and to understand Seymour's viewpoint. The quality of the 'hack' writing (as such writing was known) in this volume is also valuable to provide contrast to Dickens' work. Edward Chapman agreed that the work should be issued in monthly parts, with descriptive text by Dickens. This was a very popular method at the time. However Charles Dickens, then only 22, was not the first choice as writer. From this point differences of opinion are rife. Seymour's widow claims the credit of choosing Dickens as the hack because his 'poverty' would ensure that he would write the sketch links for the illustrations. However a more reliable view is that the senior editor in the publishing house did not have time to complete the work so recommended Dickens on the basis of his recently published and successful 'Sketches by Boz', also in a monthly periodical format.

When Dickens was commissioned he made it clear that he was not a sporting person and therefore could not write this kind of sketch. But he liked the idea of a club and would write something the illustrations could be created from. In other words he reversed the order of the creative process. His story would have illustrations. It would not be a series of illustrations with a bit of story linking them together. Mr Winkle, the only main character really interested in sports would be created to showcase Seymour but let Dickens write characters he wanted to. This was done to appease Seymour.

It seems probable that Seymour had a set of preliminary drawings for the Nimrod Club. He may have used them when discussing his idea with the publishers. His ideas for the Nimrod Club seem to go back to 1834 but due to his workload it doesn't seem to have been a project pursued until late 1835 or very early 1836 (the latter date is more probable). Reports suggest that Dickens was not commissioned until 10 February 1836 with a publication date of 31 March 1836 as the deadline. This is a very short timescale considering that there were serious disagreements about how the project would be developed after Dickens was appointed. Seymour may have used his previous illustrations to describe his original idea for the Nimrod Club but the creation of Mr Pickwick's character's design would imply that there was a prototype for him made by Seymour. This design seems to have been a thin man and was rejected by both the publisher and Dickens. The credit for the rotund final version was given by Dickens to Edward Chapman, as it was based on his acquaintance. However Seymour certainly had some characters similar to the round Mr Pickwick in his work before this time, although they are quite general in their detail and they appear similar in a number of his sketches. They appear to be more simple caricature observations whereas Mr Pickwick appears to be drawn more sharply into a strong visual image. Dickens had also written the first two chapters for Seymour to work from. From the facts that are known it seems logical then that Mr Pickwick was envisioned as a thin man, rejected and then redrawn on their suggestion of someone they knew and on Dickens writing. It also seems reasonable that Seymour used his previous work to help create the character and Dickens is reported as saying that he had "made him a reality". Mr Pickwick seems to be an amalgamation of ideas from all these sources and is therefore not solely Seymour's creation. All the characteristics of the persona and the name etc. would appear to belong to Dickens.

The next part of the controversy is how much of the Pickwick Papers did Seymour create. Seymour committed suicide before the second part of the Pickwick Papers was completed and published. He shot himself with a shotgun (fowling piece) in his summer-house behind his home in Liverpool Road, Islington, on 20 April 1836. It is clear that Seymour was not in control of the process of creating the Pickwick Papers and was in fact commissioned on quite meager monetary terms for 4 illustrations per magazine edition. (This figure does not include the frontage piece which could be reused.) He seems to have received no payment for his idea and his copyright for his illustrations seems to have been questionable. The frontage illustration that was issued on the first magazine edition reads "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club - containing a faithful record of the perambulations, perils, travels, adventures and Sporting Transactions of the corresponding members". Edited by 'Boz'. With Illustrations. Clearly Seymour isn't even mentioned as a named contributor. The frontage piece includes all sorts of fishing and shooting references and would fit well with the Nimrod Club idea but fits less well with the Pickwick Club. What sporting ideas may have been held as an original notion by Seymour were not realized in the magazine series and after Seymour's death the focus of the stories become much clearer with more emphasis on ideas preferable to Dickens.

The next area of controversy is how much was discussed in advance with Seymour before he died. Dickens himself created controversy by saying that only 24 pages had been written for the second edition when Seymour committed suicide. It was pointed out by Joseph Grego in the 1899 book 'Pictorial Pickwickian' that in fact Seymour had created the draft image of "The Pickwickians in Mr. Wardle's Kitchen". The discrepancy is in the idea that the last illustration was for the story was to go on page '50'. There were only meant to be 48 written pages complete or in draft stage. But the Pickwickians do end up in Mr Wardle's kitchen by the end of the second magazine issue regardless of what page this data was meant to have been published on. This small point has encouraged belief that Seymour was privy to ideas when there is no robust evidence to suggest that this is true. No images have been found which belong to ideas written later in the series but only ideas which were published in line with commissioned work for the second magazine. The page count may not include illustrated pages (hardcopy reference required) which would increase the count to a total of 56 sides plus index and frontage pages etc. across the first two editions of the magazine.

The magazine was to be distributed at the end of each month. The second edition was finished with just three Seymour illustrations. Dickens changed the format for the 3rd edition of the magazine increasing the text to 32 pages and reducing the illustrations to just two per issue.

Seymour's widow argued that the Pickwick Club would have existed without Dickens and this is not the case. It is clear that the Nimrod Club was Seymour's idea and was in effect a more story driven version of the highly popular Seymour's sketches but it is not the Pickwick Papers as we are familiar with today. It is clear however that it would have been much better for Seymour to pursue his idea for his magazine with another publisher or with a writer less interested in being the dominant partner. It is highly unlikely that Dickens would have created a platform like the Pickwick Club without Seymour's prompting idea but it is clear that the Pickwick Club is Dickens' creative process in terms of content. Seymour's widow received no royalties and clearly the success of the project created a sense of injustice. The Pickwick Papers wouldn't have existed without Seymour but the book and style that was popular and made the large fortune it did, wouldn't have existed if Seymour had had creative control and the format had been similar to Seymour's Sketches.

Seymour's suicide came after his struggle with mental illness and his breakdown in 1830. It is thought that Dickens had advertised for a new illustrator for the Pickwick Papers and it is clear that Seymour was struggling to design images in line with Dickens' requirements. "The Dying Clown" is harsh and emotional, a huge way from the funny and lighthearted illustrations which Seymour had envisioned for the series. Until English law changed in 1870 suicide could produce a verdict of felo de se (felon to self). This meant the person did not receive a religious burial and his family were denied any of his estate which would go to the Crown by default. Therefore no attributed royalties could go to his widow Jane Seymour from his work per se. The commission then passed to Robert William Buss, but, these being judged unsatisfactory, were then passed to Hablot Knight Browne known as Phiz from issue four of the magazine until its completion in 1837. Phiz also completed illustrations for the book version as well.