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Oliver Twist: Or, the Parish Boy's Progress
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Oliver Twist: Or, the Parish Boy's Progress Hardcover - 2010

by Charles Dickens; Introduction by Philip Horne; Notes by Philip Horne

Dickens's classic morality tale of a starving orphan caught between opposing forces of good and evil is a powerful indictment of Victorian England's Poor Laws. Filled with dark humor and an unforgettable cast of characters, this compelling social satire has remained popular since it was first serialized in 1837-39.


About this book

Oliver Twist, published in 1838, became one of English writer Charles Dickens's better-known stories and was the first Victorian novel with a child protagonist. 

Oliver Twist
(Parish Boy's Progress) focuses on orphan Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and sold into an apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, Oliver travels to London, where he meets the "Artful Dodger", a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by an elderly criminal Fagin. The book shows an unromantic portrayal of criminals and the treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid-19th century.

Summary

Dickens's classic morality tale of a starving orphan caught between opposing forces of good and evil is a powerful indictment of Victorian England's Poor Laws. Filled with dark humor and an unforgettable cast of characters Oliver Twist, Fagin, Nancy, Bill Sykes, and the Artful Dodger, to name a few Dickens's second novel is a compelling social satire that has remained popular since it was first serialized in 1837- 39.

From the publisher

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. The story of the orphan Oliver, who runs away from the workhouse only to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked readers when it was first published. Dickens's tale of childhood innocence beset by evil depicts the dark criminal underworld of a London peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the arch-villain Fagin, the artful Dodger, the menacing Bill Sikes and the prostitute Nancy. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens created an entirely newkind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.

First Edition Identification

Oliver Twist was first published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and released as a three-volume book in 1838 before the serialization ended.

The first edition was published by Richard Bentley in London, 1838. Octavo, three volumes, original reddish-brown cloth, gilt titles to the spine, front and rear panels marked with a stamp. Features 24 illustrated plates by George Cruikshank. 

The first issue has the "Fireside" plate in volume 3 and "Boz" listed as the author on all title pages. It was issued on November 9, 1838. At Dicken's insistence, the Fireside plate was replaced with the "Church" plate, and Dickens's name replaced "Boz". The book was then reissued in three volumes 7 days after the first issue, on November 16.

The First US Edition of Oliver Twist was published in New York by Jemima M. Lewer in 1838, as two volumes, bound in modern brown quarter-leather bindings, with marbled paper boards.

Details

  • Title Oliver Twist: Or, the Parish Boy's Progress
  • Author Charles Dickens; Introduction by Philip Horne; Notes by Philip Horne
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 608
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Group, New York
  • Date 2010-09-28
  • ISBN 9780141192499 / 0141192496
  • Weight 1.57 lbs (0.71 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.94 x 5.31 x 1.47 in (20.17 x 13.49 x 3.73 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 530
  • Library of Congress subjects London (England), Boys
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

END

About the author

Charles Dickens (1812-70) was a political reporter and journalist whose popularity was established by the phenomenally successful Pickwick Papers (1836-7). His novels then captured and held the public imagination over a period of more than thirty years, including, A Christmas Carol (1843), A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and Great Expectations (1861).
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