Books

First edition in book form, first issue, with "Boz" title pages and the "Fireside" plate. Oliver Twist was first published serially between February 1837 and April 1839 in Bentley's Miscellany, as well as in this three-volume edition by Richard Bentley (six months before the initial serialization was complete). The novel remains one of the best-known works of English fiction. "Oliver Twist was originally conceived as a satire on the new poor law of 1834 which herded the destitute and the helpless into harshly run union workhouses, and which was perceived by Dickens as a monstrously unjust and inhumane piece of legislation (he was still fiercely attacking it in Our Mutual Friend in 1865). Once the scene shifted to London, however, Oliver Twist developed into a unique and compelling blend of a 'realistic' tale about thieves and prostitutes and a melodrama with strong metaphysical overtones. The pathos of little Oliver (the first of many such child figures in Dickens), the farcical comedy of the Bumbles, the sinister fascination of Fagin, the horror of Nancy's murder, and the powerful evocation of London's dark and labyrinthine criminal underworld, all helped to drive Dickens's popularity to new heights" (ODNB). Bentley rushed Oliver Twist out in book form before serialization was complete, forcing Cruikshank to hurry the last illustrations. Dickens disliked the final "Fireside" plate and asked Cruikshank for a new design, the "Church" plate. He also decided that he no longer wished to be styled "Boz". The first issue, as here, was published on 9 November; the second, with cancel titles, omitting the subtitle and giving Dickens's name as the author, and with the "Church" plate at the end, was issued on 16 November. READ MORE Three vols, octavo. Original reddish brown fine-diaper cloth, spine in compartments with gilt titles, sides each stamped in blind with an arabesque cartouche, yellow coated endpapers, edges trimmed. Housed in a blue calf book-form folding case, unsigned but apparently by Bayntun (joints rubbed and recoloured). With 24 etched plates by George Cruikshank including the "Fireside" plate (facing p. 313 in vol. III), half-titles to vols I and II as issued, publisher's advertisements at rear of vol. I and front of vol. III. Cloth fresh and firm, just a little sunning to spines and rubbing to extremities, occasional light marks and spots to contents, some oxidization to plates. A very good copy. Smith 4.

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.