Sketches by Boz

What it is

Sketches by Boz is a collection of short pieces by Charles Dickens, first published in newspapers and magazines between 1833 and 1836 and then issued as a book in 1836, illustrated by George Cruikshank. It was Dickens's first book.

Why it matters

The sketches, divided into non-fiction pen-portraits and fiction, show the young journalist observing ordinary Londoners before he became a famous novelist. They reveal the close relationship between Dickens's reporting eye and his later fiction, and the role illustrators like Cruikshank played in shaping how readers pictured his characters.

Look closer

• Why might Dickens have used a pen name instead of his own?
• What does the choice of illustrations tell you about how publishers wanted readers to imagine the scenes?
• What kinds of people and places does Dickens choose to write about, and who is left out?