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

Checklist of Images

Items in this checklist are from two special collections in The New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building: the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature and the George Arents Collection of Books in Parts.

Section 1: Periodical Publishing and Book History

George Cruikshank. Portrait sketches of Charles Dickens (seven on one sheet), drawn in pencil and watercolor from life, April 1837. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

Title page of the first half-yearly volume (Vol. I, parts 1-6) of Bentley's Miscellany. London: Richard Bentley, 1837. George Arents Collection of Books in Parts.

Section 2: Magazines and Collaborative Authorship

George Cruikshank. "Oliver asking for more." Illustration (etching) facing the first chapter of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist in Bentley's Miscellany, February 1837. London: Richard Bentley, 1837. George Arents Collection of Books in Parts.

George Cruikshank. Self-portrait, engraved by C.E. Wagstaff, which appeared in the first number of George Cruikshank's Omnibus (May 1841). From the 1st edition in book form, edited by Laman Blanchard, Esq. Illustrated with one hundred engravings on steel and wood. London: Tilt and Bogue, 1842. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

William Hogarth. "The Idle 'Prentice Returned from Sea, and in a Garret with a Prostitute" and "The Industrious 'Prentice Performing the Duty of a Christian." Plates 7 and 2, respectively, in Hogarth's series Industry and Idleness; engraved by F. Jordan (7) and C. Armstrong (2). From The Works of William Hogarth; in a Series of Engravings, with Descriptions, and a Comment on Their Moral Tendency . . . By the Rev. John Trusler. London and New York: The London Printing and Publishing Company-Limited, 18--. 2 vols. in 1. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

Section 3: The Generic Ambiguities of Serial Fiction

George Cruikshank. "The Last Chance." Original pencil, pen, and watercolor sketch showing Bill Sikes attempting to escape from the angry mob. Drawing tipped into the front of volume 3 of a copy of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. By "Boz." Etchings by George Cruikshank. 1st edition, 1st issue. London: Richard Bentley, 1838. George McCutcheon bookplate. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

George Cruikshank. "Oliver's reception by Fagin and the boys." Frontispiece illustration and title page of volume 1 of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. By "Boz." Etchings by George Cruikshank. 1st edition, 1st issue. London: Richard Bentley, 1838. George McCutcheon bookplate. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

Section 4: The Influences of Victorian Culture

George Cruikshank. "The Escape No. 1." From a set of 25 etchings by Cruikshank for the first edition of William Harrison Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard: A Romance. London: Richard Bentley, 1839. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

George Cruikshank. Original pencil sketches (on a small scrap of paper measuring 6.25 by 1.75 inches) for Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, with two scenes from Chapter II of the novel, including (at left) the scene when Oliver makes his famous request to the astonished workhouse master, "Please, sir, I want some more." Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

Section 5: The Impact of Readers' Responses

George Cruikshank. Pencil, pen, and watercolor sketch of Nancy fainting for Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, with two alternative titles in pencil added at bottom, possibly by the copperplate engraver Becker, who engraved the captions for the plates. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

George Cruikshank. "Oliver introduced to the respectable Old Gentleman." Illustration opposite page 132 in volume 1 of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. By "Boz." Etchings by George Cruikshank. 1st edition, 1st issue. London: Richard Bentley, 1838. George McCutcheon bookplate. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

Daniel Maclise. Portrait of Charles Dickens, engraved by Edward Finden. Frontispiece for Charles Dickens's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With illustrations by Phiz [Hablot K. Browne]. London: Chapman and Hall, 1839. Charles Dickens's bookplate. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

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