or the Parish Boy's Progress by "Boz."
Oliver Twist or the Parish Boy's Progress by "Boz."
Bentley, 1838.
First edition, mixed state with author listed as Boz on the title page of volume one and Charles Dickens on volumes two and three. The final plate in vol. III in the later state i.e. the 'Church' plate. Three volumes. Finely bound by Bayntun in recent full red morocco, with raised bands, gilt borders to covers and titles to spine. Gilt cartouche depicting Dickens in an oval frame to the upper cover and his signature embossed in gilt to the lower cover to each volume. All edges gilt. Twenty-four steel engraved plates by George Cruikshank. Repaired chip to half title of volume I and a marginal, short, closed tear to a couple of plates, otherwise a clean copy in a handsome binding.
Dickens's second novel and 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.
Serialised 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. Dickens objected to the 'Fireside' plate and a new plate (the 'Church' plate) was substituted, but not in time for incorporation into earliest copies of the book. 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.
Smith I 4.a.
Stock ID: 34534
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