THE

PIC NIC PAPERS.

66

BY VARIOUS HANDS.

EDITED BY

CHARLES DICKENS, ESQ.

AUTHOR OF

THE PICKWICK PAPERS," "NICHOLAS NICKLEBY," &c.

With Ellustrations by George Cruikshank, Phiz, &c.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,

GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.

MDCCCXLI.

1857 day.

Gutt

5

James Walker $. 6. 29. of Cambridge.

avis. 1·3.

LONDON:

COX AND SON, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET.

INTRODUCTION.

THE history of the following pages is told in very few words.

The premature death of a publisher young in the prime and vigour of his years, before he had had time or opportunity to make any provision for his wife and infant children, and at the moment when his prospects were brightest and the difficulties of his enterprise were nearly overcome, inspired some of those who had known him personally, or had been connected with him in business, with an earnest desire to render some assistance to his widow and orphans.

As a mark of their respect for his memory, and as a means towards the education of his children,