¶This scarce squib was written by Dickens while he was otherwise occupied on Pickwick Papers. Dedicated, somewhat sarcastically, to the Bishop of London, it represents his opposition to the Sabbatarians, a small but vocal group of politicians and clergymen who wanted to pass into law legislation that prevented recreational activity on Sundays. Dickens, as was his want, took the part of the working man, advocating harmless Sunday amusements and questioning whether the Bishop 'would ever have contemplated Sunday recreations with so much horror, [had he] been at all acquainted with the wants and necessities of the people who indulged them'. The Sabbath Observances Bill was defeated in the House of Commons while Sunday Under Three Heads was at the printers, diminishing the political necessity of the work. Though well received, it was never reprinted in Dickens's lifetime and the first edition is now particularly scarce; two facsimile editions appeared in 1884. This copy retains an earlier bookseller's invoice (1947), and 2pp notes on the work's publishing history.