The New York Public Library, Berg Collection of
English and American Literature
Sikes and Nancy, The Reading.
An opening from Dickens's prompt-copy of Sikes and Nancy, the reading from Oliver Twist,
and the only one in which he allowed, as he said, his "murderous instincts" to run riot. Note the
dramatic memoranda--"Mystery" (outer margin of left-hand page) ... "Terror To The End" (inner margin of right-hand page)--that Dickens has written in the
margins to help guide him in the performance of this chilling scene, the murder of Nancy.