Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy s Progress -
Charles Dickens ( Boz )
1838 - Richard Bentley, London - First Edition, First Issue
‘Please, Sir, I want some more.’
First edition in fine contemporary bindings, first issue with the 'fireside' plate’ (i.e. Rose, Maylie and Oliver) between pages 312-13, which was suppressed in the second issue. Illustrated throughout with frontispieces and twenty-one plates etched by George Cruikshank.
Dickens was severely criticised for introducing criminals and prostitutes in Oliver Twist to which he responded - ‘I saw no reason, when I wrote this book, why the very dregs of life, so long as their speech did not offend the ear, should not serve the purpose of a moral, at least as well as its froth and cream’. First edition, first issue with ‘Boz’ instead of ‘Dickens’ on the title page which indicates a printing of 9th to 16th November. Dickens disliked using his pseudonym so a new title page without it was inserted into all copies not distributed in the first week of publication. The word "pilaster" is also present on line 13, page 164 of volume III. Boz came from his younger brother Augustus's through-the-nose pronunciation of his own nickname, Moses.
Dickens literary output was prodigious. In slightly more than 30 years, he published more than twenty novels, acted as editor for a variety of literary journals, created his own magazine, worked as a freelance reporter, and executed a series of charismatic public readings. Oliver Twist was begun in February 1837 and continued as monthly instalments in Bentley’s Miscellany until April of 1839. Dickens originally titled the novel Oliver Twist: The Parish Boy’s Progress but it has since been shorten to simply Oliver Twist.
Three small octavo volumes (binding size 19.8x13cm), pp. [6] 331 [3]; [6] 307 [3]; [4] 315 [3]. Volumes I & II with half-titles, absent in volume III as called for, volume I with [4]pp Bentley catalogued discarded as often, otherwise complete contents, collating: frontispieces and 21 plates. Bound in contemporary quarter brown calf over marbled boards, spines patterned ruled and lettered in gilt, black morocco title labels lettered in gilt, tan coated endpapers, red speckled edges. Condition: Very good, some spotting to first and last few pages and to the plates, volume I pages 47/48 margins somewhat soiled, volume II pages 23-40 upper corners creased, the latter page somewhat soiled, bindings with minor rubbing to corners and edges, spines mildly soiled. Ref: 111803 Price: HK$ 32,000
First edition in fine contemporary bindings, first issue with the 'fireside' plate’ (i.e. Rose, Maylie and Oliver) between pages 312-13, which was suppressed in the second issue. Illustrated throughout with frontispieces and twenty-one plates etched by George Cruikshank.
Dickens was severely criticised for introducing criminals and prostitutes in Oliver Twist to which he responded - ‘I saw no reason, when I wrote this book, why the very dregs of life, so long as their speech did not offend the ear, should not serve the purpose of a moral, at least as well as its froth and cream’. First edition, first issue with ‘Boz’ instead of ‘Dickens’ on the title page which indicates a printing of 9th to 16th November. Dickens disliked using his pseudonym so a new title page without it was inserted into all copies not distributed in the first week of publication. The word "pilaster" is also present on line 13, page 164 of volume III. Boz came from his younger brother Augustus's through-the-nose pronunciation of his own nickname, Moses.
Dickens literary output was prodigious. In slightly more than 30 years, he published more than twenty novels, acted as editor for a variety of literary journals, created his own magazine, worked as a freelance reporter, and executed a series of charismatic public readings. Oliver Twist was begun in February 1837 and continued as monthly instalments in Bentley’s Miscellany until April of 1839. Dickens originally titled the novel Oliver Twist: The Parish Boy’s Progress but it has since been shorten to simply Oliver Twist.
Three small octavo volumes (binding size 19.8x13cm), pp. [6] 331 [3]; [6] 307 [3]; [4] 315 [3]. Volumes I & II with half-titles, absent in volume III as called for, volume I with [4]pp Bentley catalogued discarded as often, otherwise complete contents, collating: frontispieces and 21 plates. Bound in contemporary quarter brown calf over marbled boards, spines patterned ruled and lettered in gilt, black morocco title labels lettered in gilt, tan coated endpapers, red speckled edges. Condition: Very good, some spotting to first and last few pages and to the plates, volume I pages 47/48 margins somewhat soiled, volume II pages 23-40 upper corners creased, the latter page somewhat soiled, bindings with minor rubbing to corners and edges, spines mildly soiled. Ref: 111803 Price: HK$ 32,000