When Is a Book Not a Book? Oliver Twist in Context

The New York Public Library, Berg Collection of English and American Literature

Although Nicholas Nickleby, written by Charles Dickens during and after composing Oliver Twist, concerns the life and adventures of its titular hero, in place of the expected frontispiece portrait of Nicholas, the publishers supplied instead the first widely circulated image of the writer hitherto known as "Boz." The implication was that the author, not the subject of the fictional life, is the guarantor of authenticity. The portrait, painted by the young Irish artist Daniel Maclise in June 1839, was engraved by Edward Finden and printed above Dickens's promise ("Faithfully Yours") and signature.

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