OLIVER TWIST

CHARLES DICKENS

Published by GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, 1899

About this Item

An interesting late 19th-century commercial edition. Paperback illustrated by Frederick Colin Tilney. Volume in 8vo, 170 pages. It features numerous contemporary advertisements, making it a rather rare edition. Text in two columns. Condizione: Good.
"Oliver Twist" or "The Parish Boy's Progress", is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows orphan Oliver Twist, who, after being raised in a workhouse, escapes to London, where he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, discovers the secrets of his parentage, and reconnects with his remaining family.
Oliver Twist unromantically portrays the sordid lives of criminals and exposes the cruel treatment of the many orphans in England in the mid-19th century. The alternative title, The Parish Boy's Progress, alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress as well as the 18th-century caricature series by painter William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress and A Harlot's Progress. In an early example of the social novel, Dickens satirises child labour, domestic violence, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own experiences as a youth contributed as well, considering he spent two years of his life in the workhouse at the age of 12 and subsequently missed out on some of his education. Oliver Twist has been the subject of numerous adaptations, including the 1948 film of the same name, starring Alec Guinness as Fagin; a highly successful musical, Oliver! (itself adapted into the Oscar-winning 1968 film), and Disney's 1988 animated feature film Oliver & Company.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1770114176319

Bibliographic Details

• Title: OLIVER TWIST
• Publisher: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON
• Publication Date: 1899
• Language: English
• Binding: Soft cover
• Illustrator: Frederick Colin Tilney
• Condition: Good