At the beginning of 1836, as Charles Dickens turned 24, a collection of his popular sketches that had appeared in various newspapers over the previous three years saw his first book published by the publisher John Macrone under the title Sketches by Boz. The first volume in February was followed by a second seven months later. The success of the sketches led to Dickens attracting the attention of publishers Chapman and Hall who asked him to contribute to a new project involving the illustrator Robert Seymour, who had a new idea revolving around the mishaps of a group of Cockney sportsmen. With his marriage looming, Dickens agreed to write for the well-remunerated project but changed some of Seymour’s original ideas, and The Pickwick Papers was born, its first instalment appearing at the end of March. Initial sales were poor but picked up through the year. In July, Dickens published a campaign pamphlet Sunday Under Three Heads, under the pseudonym Timothy Sparks, to oppose a proposed law prohibiting all work and all recreation on Sunday and towards the end of the year, Dickens wrote two stage productions, the burlettas The Strange Gentleman and The Village Coquettes, which premiered at London’s St James’s Theatre to a lukewarm reception. In August, Dickens signed an agreement with the publisher Richard Bentley to write two novels. In his personal life, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth at St. Lukes, Chelsea in April, followed by a short honeymoon in Kent.
