''The Mudfog Papers'' are an anthology of stories written by
Charles Dickens and published from 1837 to 1838 in the monthly literary journal ''
Bentley's Miscellany'', which he was then editing.
Topics
''The Mudfog Papers'' relates the proceedings of a
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
al society, The Mudfog Society for the Advancement of Everything, a
Pickwickian
''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with '' Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to ...
parody of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science
The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...
. The latter, founded in
York in 1831, was one of numerous
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literature ...
learned societies dedicated to the advancement of science. Like ''
The Pickwick Papers'', ''The Mudfog Papers'' claims affinity with parliamentary reports, memoirs and posthumous papers. The serial was illustrated by
George Cruikshank.
The fictional town of Mudfog was based on
Chatham in
Kent, where Dickens spent part of his youth. When ''
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
'' first appeared in ''
Bentley's Miscellany'' in February 1837, Mudfog was described by Dickens as the town where Oliver was born and spent his early years, making ''Oliver Twist'' related to ''The Mudfog Papers'', but this allusion was removed when the novel was published as a book.
[''Bentley's Miscellany'', 1837]
At the conclusion of his first contribution, about the mayor of the provincial town of Mudfog, Dickens explains that "this is the first time we have published any of our gleanings from this particular source", referring to ''The Mudfog Papers''. He also suggests that "at some future period, we may venture to open the chronicles of Mudfog".
[
The ''Papers'' was first published as a book under the title ''The Mudfog Papers and Other Sketches'' in 1880.][''The Mudfog Papers and Other Sketches''. London: Richard Bentley and Son, Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen, 1880.]
Contents
*I. Public Life of Mr Tulrumble – Once Mayor of Mudfog
*II. Full Report of The First Meeting of The Mudfog Association for The Advancement of Everything
*III. Full Report of The Second Meeting of The Mudfog Association for The Advancement of Everything
*IV. The Pantomime of Life
*V. Some Particulars Concerning a Lion
*VI. Mr Robert Bolton: The "Gentleman Connected with the Press"
*VII. Familiar Epistle from a Parent to a Child Aged Two Years and Two Months
References
External links
''The Mudfog Papers''
at Google Books
Full text of ''The Mudfog Papers''''The Mudfog Papers'' on readeasily.com''The Mudfog Papers''
on Project Gutenberg
*
Turn the pages of a digital copy of ''Mudfog Papers and Other Contributions''.
University of California
Review of ''The Mudfog Papers''
in '' The New York Times'' of October 2, 1880
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudfog Papers
1837 short stories
1880 short story collections
Art by George Cruikshank
Short story collections by Charles Dickens
Works originally published in Bentley's Miscellany