Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy’s Progress. By “Boz”. In Three Volumes.
London: Richard Bentley, 1838.
3 vols., small 8vo, [i-iv], [1] 2-331, [332]; [i-iv], [1] 2-307 [308]; [iii-iv], [1] 2-315, [316] pp. 24 engraved illustrations by George Cruikshank, 1 as frontispiece to each volume. With half-titles in vols. I and II, with the advertisement leaf at beginning of vol. III, the 4 pages advertisements at end of vol. I, but without the single-leaf list of illustrations in vol. I found in some copies only. Neat repairs to the cloth, first signature in vol. 1 strengthened, boards slightly bumped and spotted but generally a very good copy with bookplates in all three volumes.
§ First edition in original cloth, with the title page credited to “Boz” rather than Dickens, and with the Fireside plate as the final plate in volume three. The first edition of Oliver Twist in original cloth is a cornerstone in any Dickens collection. Publication of the serial in Bentley’s Miscellany began in 1837, and “when Bentley decided to publish Oliver Twist in book form before its completion in his periodical, Cruikshank was forced to complete the last few plates in haste. Dickens did not review them until the eve of publication and objected to the “Fireside” plate...and also disliked having “Boz” on the titlepage. He voiced these objections prior to the publication and the plate and the titlepage were changed between November 9 and 16” (Smith, 34). Smith I, 4. Eckel, pp. 59-62.
Provenance: Each volume with the bookplates of the Albert Henry Wiggen (1868-1951), noted book collector and "the most colorful and attractive figure in the commercial banking world," the only member of the Federal Reserve Bank to have a law written specifically against his actions (the "Wiggin Provision"). On the upside, he was also a noted book and print collector and a major donor to the Boston Public Library, the New York Public Library, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. This book passed to his son-in-law Lynde Selden whose two bookplates are also found in two of the three volumes. Item #126430
Price: $9,750.00