Published in 1836, The Pickwick Papers not only introduced the quixotic figure of Samuel Pickwick, Esquire to the world but also the immense talent of Charles Dickens.

The 24-year-old Dickens applied his wonderful descriptive powers to a series of farcical events, which are still guaranteed to raise laughs. Every page bursts with comic invention as our rotund hero and his friends rattle round southern England in horse-drawn coaches on the look-out for adventure.

Among the unforgettable characters are wily villain Alfred Jingle, inept Lothario Tracy Tupman and, perhaps best of all, crafty cockney manservant Samuel Weller with his idiosyncratic sayings and advice.