The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress (First Edition in Single Volume)

DICKENS, Charles (illus. George Cruikshank). The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. London: Published for the Author by Bradbury & Evans, Whitefriars, 1846.

8vo (222 × 138 mm). Full tan calf. Spine with five raised bands; titling to spine on red and black Morocco panels; compartments decorated in gilt. Covers margined in gilt. Elaborate gilt dentelles to turn-ins. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Two burgundy silk ribbon markers. Binder's stamp of Bayntun, Bath, to upper corner of front flyleaf. xii, 311 pp. 24 steel-engraved plates by George Cruikshank throughout, each with tissue guard. Final plate: "Rose Maylie and Oliver" — the "Church" plate, confirming this as a later printing of the 1846 edition. Author's Preface to the Third Edition (dated April 1841) to preliminary matter. "A New Edition, Revised and Corrected." First edition in a single volume. The definitive revised text. This copy in the later printing with the "Church" plate, as revised at Dickens's direction. Subsequently and finely bound by Bayntun Binders of Bath. Bibliographic references: Sadleir 696c; Gimbel A39.

Oliver Twist began in February 1837, appearing in monthly instalments in Bentley's Miscellany until April 1839. It was the first English novel to take a child as its protagonist, the first to use criminal slang as a literary register, and the first sustained work of fiction to place the poverty and criminality of the London underclass at the centre of a mainstream narrative. Its publication history reflects Dickens's sustained engagement with the text across eight years: the three-volume first edition of 1838 was published by Bentley while the serialisation was still running; a second edition followed in 1839; a third in 1841, for which Dickens wrote the preface included in this volume; and the ten monthly parts issued by Bradbury & Evans in 1846, with the single-volume edition published simultaneously on 26 September of that year, represent the final form. Dickens himself only ceased making changes in 1846, when the Bradbury and Evans edition was published, making this not merely a reprint but the definitive text of the novel, incorporating every revision Dickens had made across four separate publication events.

Twenty-four steel-engraved plates by George Cruikshank (1792–1878) were specifically prepared for this edition, the original 1838 plates having been retouched by Findlay with new backgrounds and altered details. The final plate in this copy — "Rose Maylie and Oliver," depicting the two characters standing together against a church wall — is the "Church" plate that Dickens himself requested Cruikshank design as a replacement for the original "Fireside" plate, which he felt carried an unacceptable suggestion of the seductive comfort of criminal life. The presence of the "Church" plate confirms this copy as a later printing of the 1846 edition and, crucially, as the state that Dickens considered the correct moral and artistic form of the work.

The binding is the work of Bayntun of Bath, the firm established by George Bayntun (1858–1929) and now in its fourth generation, one of the most consistently respected bookbinding establishments in England. At their height during Victorian England their work, as seen on this volume, was considered amongst the finest ever produced by a British fine bindery.

Near fine. Binding in superb condition throughout: leather supple and strong; all gilt bold and bright. Some sporadic spotting and mild toning to contents here and there; overall contents very bright and clean. Faint owner's inscription inked to upper title page.

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Catalogue Number: HH000630