DICKENS, Charles. The Adventures of Oliver Twist ... a new edition. London: Bradbury and Evans, January to October 1846.
10 original parts, 8° (224 x 135mm). 24 etched plates by George Cruikshank, retouched by J. Findlay. (Light browning to plates in pts. 4, 9 and 10, without the advertisement leaf in pt 10.) Original blue-green pictorial wrappers after Cruikshank (pts. 5,8,9, with substituted wrappers from others parts, back wrappers to pts. 7 and 10 substituted from [?]Dombey and Son, front wrappr to pt. 10 in facsimile and partly split along spine, some chips at head and tail of spines, neat spine and cover edge repairs), green morocco-backed box by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. Provenance: Marquess of Queensberry (bookplate) -- Neville L. Fakes (his sale, Sotheby's, 11 July 2002, lot 196).
FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL PARTS. Dickens's short, second novel is one of the most sought after of his publications in parts. "Many would-be owners are doomed to disappointment in their efforts to effect a capture" (H. & C. p. 215). It was first serialised in Bentley's Miscellany, February 1837-April 1839, and first appeared in book form in November 1838. Pickwick was only half completed when Dickens began the story, and he started Nicholas Nickleby before it was finished. The wrappers to the monthly parts issue illustrate eleven scenes from the story, including Bumble leading away Oliver, Fagin in his den and in prison, Sykes with Bull's-eye, and Sykes being watched by Bully's-eye as he falls from a rooftop, but not the cruel murder of Nancy. AN ATTRACTIVE COPY WITH ARISTOCRATIC PROVENANCE. Eckel pp. 62-63; Hatton and Cleaver pp. 215-224; Gimbel A38. (10)