3 volumes. [i-vi, includes List of Illustrations], [1]-331, [332-336]; [i-iv], [1]-307, [308]; [i-iv], [1]-315, [316] pp. 24 engraved illustrations by George Cruikshank, including frontispiece to each volume. With half-titles in Volumes I and II; no half-title called for in Volume III. The single-leaf list of illustrations in Volume I (found only in some copies) is present. (8vo) original plum cloth with central blindstamped arabesque design, backstrips lettered in gilt and include the Bentley imprint at feet (Carter binding variant B). First Edition, First Issue.
First issue, with the title page credited as Boz instead of Dickens, and with the Fireside plate facing p. 312 in Volume III. Correct first state copies of Oliver Twist in their original cloth are scarce and 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 title page. He voiced these objections prior to the publication and the plate and the title page were changed between November 9 and 16” (Smith, 34). Page 164 in Volume III exists in two states: this copy in the first state with “pilaster” unchanged. Smith 4; Eckel, pp. 59-62. Provenance: The Caroline Boeing Poole Collection, sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal in 1977 to the current consignor.
The plates are here bound in to face pp. 29, 48, 98, 132, 152, 186, 248, and 302 in Volume one; pp. 61, 130, 151, 196, 262, and 296 in Volume two; and pp. 20, 30, 105, 165, 215, 296, and 312 in Volume three.
Condition:
Bindings show some rubbing, fading and spotting, backstrips a bit sunfaded and discolored, the crowns unobtrusively reinforced, text with light foxing, the plates in Vol. III more heavily spotted than the other volumes; very good.