Oliver Twist.

DICKENS, Charles.

Item Number: 18052

London: Richard Bentley, 1838.

First edition, first issue with 24 plates by George Cruikshank (including the suppressed “Fireside” plate) and without Dickens’ name on the title page. Both plate and name were changed within the week of publication in November 1928. Octavo, three volumes, original red cloth. An excellent example with some toning to the spine and rubbing to the crown of the spines.

"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).