Sketches by Boz

The census claim is confirmed. This is Dickens's true first book: the Macrone First Series of February 1836 precedes the first number of The Pickwick Papers (March 1836). There is no UK-vs-US or foreign-language precedence question. Note the date conflict in the record: Wikipedia dates the Second Series to August 1836, but this is contradicted by the auction and dealer record — the 20pp. of publisher's advertisements bound at the end are dated December 1836 and the printed title-page reads 1837, and Sotheby's catalogues the volume as '1837 [1836]'. December 1836 with an 1837-dated printed title is the correct description. A complete set requires both Series, each in its own distinct publisher's cloth (leaf-patterned dark green for the First Series, speckled pink for the Second) — the two series were never uniformly bound.