Charles Dickens the house. The success of "Sketches by Boz" led to a proposal from publishers Chapman and Hall for Dickens to supply text to match Robert Seymour's engraved illustrations in a monthly letterpress. Seymour committed suicide after the second instalment, and Dickens, who wanted to write a connected series of sketches, hired "Phiz" to provide the engravings (which were reduced from four to two per instalment) for the story. The resulting story became "The Pickwick Papers", and though the first few episodes were not successful, the introduction of the Cockney character Sam Weller in the fourth episode (the first to be
Sam Weller (journalist) Chair and an associate professor in the Department of Creative Writing at Columbia College, Chicago. Sam Weller (journalist) Sam Weller (born January 31, 1967) is an American journalist and author, best known for being writer Ray Bradbury's authorized biographer. Weller's 2005 book, "The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury" (HarperCollins) is a full-biography while his 2010 "Listen to the Echoes, The Ray Bradbury Interviews" (Melville House Publishing) is a collection of interviews, photos, mementos, and artifacts. Weller's 2014 "Ray Bradbury: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations" (Melville House Publishing) features his last interview with Bradbury, and recounts Bradbury's influences,