Books

Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1894. The New Library edition of the works of Charles Dickens. Octavo, 32 volumes bound in three quarter morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, raised bands, top edges gilt, illustrated. In near fine condition. Dickens is generally considered the greatest writer of the Victorian period. His works are characterized by attacks on social evils, injustice, and hypocrisy. "His imaginative freshness, his deep and sincere tenderness and pity, his whole-souled humor that is seldom sharpened into wit, his superabundance of creative energy, have built a deathless niche in the temple of fame for Charles Dickens" (Kunitz & Haycraft, 184).

Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress is Charles Dickens's second novel, and was first published as a serial from 1837 to 1839. The story centers on orphan Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, Oliver travels to London, where he meets the 'Artful Dodger', a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin.