Books

London: Richard Bentley, 1838. First edition, second printing with "By Boz" to each title page and the "Church" plate. Octavo, three volumes, bound in full brown calf, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, triple ruled gilt to the front and rear panels, marbled endpapers, inner dentelles, top edge gilt. Original cloth bound in at rear of each volume. In near fine condition with light rubbing. "Dickens turned in Oliver Twist to the novel of crime and terror Some characters are drawn with humorous realism, but for the most part humor is dimmed by gloomy memories of the author’s own neglected childhood and sensational scenes are shrouded in an atmosphere genuinely eerie and sinister That Dickens shared with his contemporaries the conviction that the novel should be an instrument of social reform is evident in Oliver Twist" (Baugh).

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.