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
Samuel A. Weller Dickens." From 1898–1900 Weller employed Albert Radford, who is credited with developing Weller Matt ware. Jacques Sicard and Henri Gellie designed artware for Weller from 1901–1907; they kept their processes secret from Weller for making the Sicardo line of metallic luster glazing (called "Reflets Metalliques"). According to one source, "the professional and personal relationship between Weller and Sicard was turbulent." Frederick Hurten Rhead worked for Weller from mid-1903–1904, with the Jap Birdimal line, the L'Art Nouveau line, and the third Dickens line. Weller realized there was "more prestige than profit" in the art pottery lines that required hand decorating. He