[Literature] Dickens, Charles. (1812–1870). OLIVER TWIST or the Parish Boy’s Progress by "Boz." . London: Richard Bentley. 1838. First edition. Three octavo volumes (4 7/8 x 8 inches; 200 x 124 mm). Original mauve-brown fine diaper cloth with blind stamped arabesque design to boards and gilt titles on the spines. Volumes I and III in twelves and II in eights. [iv], [1]-331, [1, blank], [4, publisher's ads]; [iv], [1]-307, [1. blank]; [iv], [1]-315, [1, blank] pp. With half-titles to volumes I & II, no half-title called for in Volume III. With almost all internal flaws according to Smith present. Without the illustration list in volume I (not found in many copies). With twenty-four inserted engraved plates by George Cruikshank, including frontispieces. All three embossed brown cloth bindings somewhat faded around edges, spines or joints worn or chipped, Vol. 1 rear board clumsily reattached, scattered foxing. Otherwise good, with pages not loose. Ownership stamps to inner boards and two volumes with mounted visiting card/book plate inscribed "Mr. Lawrence, The Greenway." Eckel pp.59-63: "The 3-Volume edition has become very scarce"; Podeschi A27.



Dickens’s second novel and a landmark of Victorian fiction. The book marks a departure for Dickens, from the anecdotal style used in The Pickwick Papers or Sketches by Boz, to a darker type of writing addressing social issues that affected the Victorian underclass, such as the Poor Law and child labour and criminality. For this novel, Dickens’s first in the standard three-volume form, Bentley divided the printing task between two firms: Volume I was printed in a 12mo format by Samuel Bentley; Volume II in 8vo format by Whiting; and Volume III preliminaries and signatures A-F and probably G by Whiting with the remaining text by Samuel Bentley, again in 12mo format.



Serialized in Bentley’s Miscellany from 1837 to 1839, curiously it was published in book form before its completion in his periodical, forcing Cruikshank to complete the last few plates in haste and without review by the author. The three-decker publication date was 9 November 1839, and within a week, at Dickens’s insistence, the title-pages were changed to include his name, and the "Church" version of the final plate ("Rose Maylie and Oliver") was substituted for the "Fireside" version. Possibly in reflection of his new style of writing, Dickens disliked having "Boz" on the title page and the new title page was inserted into all copies not distributed in the first week of publication. This copy has both "Boz" on the title page as well as the original "Fireside" plate. The true first issue is quite rare.