Boz - the young Dickens

 

“Boz” was the early pen name used by Charles Dickens. He first adopted it between 1833 and 1836 for his newspaper sketches and short stories.

The name originated from a family nickname for his younger brother Augustus (“Moses,” which the family pronounced as “Boses,” later shortened to “Boz”).

In 1836–1837, Dickens published his first major success, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (commonly known as The Pickwick Papers), under the name Boz. After this breakthrough, he gradually dropped the pseudonym and published under his real name.