Buss, several illustrators came forward to offer their
services, including "Alfred Crowquill" (Alfred Forrester), Leech, and
Thackeray, the last-named going himself to call on Dickens in Furnival's
Inn, and submitting his drawings to him. Needless to say, not one of the
three was successful in his candidature, the choice of the publishers
falling upon a very young artist, Hablot Knight Browne (1815-1882), who
had served his apprenticeship to Finden, the line-engraver, and gained
some experience as a book-illustrator. He had already illustrated a
pamphlet by Dickens, called _Sunday under Three Heads_, and was engaged
in executing plates for Chapman and Hall's _Library of Fiction_.

The choice, as every one knows, proved a happy one, Browne, who took the
pseudonym of "Phiz" to correspond with the editorial "Boz," throwing
himself heart and soul into the spirit of the work, and proving an ideal
collaborator from the author's point of view. The ill-luck which had
dogged the early days of _Pickwick_ turned out a blessing in disguise
for Dickens, since he was no longer expected to exploit the talent of
his illustrator, and was enabled to impress his own ideas and wishes
upon "Phiz," his junior by three years. With the fourth number, which
saw the first appearance of Samuel Weller, the circulation of the work
began to go up by leaps and bounds; a Pickwick boom ensued, and many of
the designs had to be etched in duplicate, as the plates showed signs of
wear and tear. Owing to the lack of harmony between the illustrations in
the first three numbers and those that followed, Browne was employed to
redraw Seymour's plates, and to substitute two new designs for the
despised Buss plates. The latter, which only appeared in about seven
hundred copies of the original edition, are now as eagerly sought by
collectors as if they were miniature masterpieces, while the untouched
designs of Seymour rank far above those that were redrawn by Phiz.

The authorised illustrations to the _Pickwick Papers_ have been
supplemented by several series of "illegitimate" designs, chief among
which are the famous Onwhyn plates, published in 1837, when the book was
in the full tide of success. These consisted of thirty-two etchings on
steel, the majority of which were executed by Thomas Onwhyn (died in
1886), and are signed "Samuel Weller," though a few have Onwhyn's
initials. The plates were published by E. Grattan in eight monthly parts
at a shilling each,