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Return of the boys without Oliver
Frederic W. Pailthorpe
1886
9 cm high by 7.8 cm wide (3 ½ inches by 3 inches)
Dickens's Oliver Twist
[Click on image to enlarge it. See below for passage illustrated, commentary and comparisons with other illustrators' work; mouse over the text for links.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"Where's Oliver?" said the Jew, rising with a menacing look. "Where's the boy?"
The young thieves eyed their preceptor as if they were alarmed at his violence; and looked uneasily at each other. But they made no reply.
"What's become of the boy?" said the Jew, seizing the Dodger tightly by the collar, and threatening him with horrid imprecations. "Speak out, or I'll throttle you!"
Mr. Fagin looked so very much in earnest, that Charley Bates, who deemed it prudent in all cases to be on the safe side, and who conceived it by no means improbable that it might be his turn to be throttled second, dropped upon his knees, and raised a loud, well-sustained, and continuous roar — something between a mad bull and a speaking trumpet.
"Will you speak?" thundered the Jew: shaking the Dodger so much that his keeping in the big coat at all, seemed perfectly miraculous.
"Why, the traps have got him, and that's all about it," said the Dodger, sullenly. "Come, let go o' me, will you!" And, swinging himself, at one jerk, clean out of the big coat, which he left in the Jew's hands, the Dodger snatched up the toasting fork, and made a pass at the merry old gentleman's waistcoat; which, if it had taken effect, would have let a little more merriment out than could have been easily replaced. [Chapter XIII, "Some new acquaintances are introduced to the intelligent reader, connected with whom, various pleasant matters are related, appertaining to this history," p. 55 in the 1846 edition]
Having run away from The Artful Dodger and Charley Bates (1867) when they are concentrating on lifting a "cove's" property, a thug in a pursuing mob knocks Oliver down as he runs from the scene of the crime. Mistakenly apprehended as the thief, Oliver appears before Magistrate Fang, who peremptorily finds Oliver guilty, even though the victim, Mr. Brownlow, refuses to press charges. However, when the testimony of the bookstall owner exonerates Oliver, Fang releases the near-delirious "Tom White" (as Oliver has identified himself) into the custody of the kindly Mr. Brownlow. Meanwhile, in Chapter 13, the Dodger and Charley return to Fagin's lair from their ill-fated fishing expedition to Clerkenwell without their charge — much to Fagin's chagrin. Fagin now has to decide how to prevent Oliver's exposing the gang.
Left: George Cruikshank's serial version of the re-apprehension of Oliver: Oliver claimed by his affectionate friends (September 1837). Right: Harry Furniss's depiction of Nancy and Sikes taking custody of Oliver: Oliver Trapped by Nancy and Sikes (1910).
Left: James Mahoney's Household Edition wood-engraving of the scene in which Fagin learns the boys have lost Oliver: "What's become of the boy?" (1871). Right: Felix Octavius Carr Darley's 1888 engraving Sikes, Nancy, and Oliver Twist, the scene in which Sikes and his doxy recapture Oliver. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
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Cohen, Jane Rabb. "George Cruikshank." Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus: Ohio State U. P., 1980. Pp. 15-38.
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr. Character Sketches from Dickens. Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, 1888.
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. The Adventures of Oliver Twist. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1838; Chapman and Hall, 1846.
_______. The Letters of Charles Dickens. Ed. Graham Storey, Kathleen Tillotson, and Angus Eassone. The Pilgrim Edition. Oxford: Clarendon, 1965. Vol. 1 (1820-1839).
_______. Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. Household Edition. 55 vols. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. New York: Sheldon and Co., 1865.
_______. Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867. Vol. XI.
_______. The Adventures of Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. Household Edition. 22 vols. Illustrated by James Mahoney. London: Chapman and Hall, 1871. Vol. I.
_______. Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. III.
_______. Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. The Waverley Edition of the Works of Charles Dickens. Illustrated by Charles Pears. London: Waverley, 1912.
Grego, Joseph (intro). Cruikshank's Water Colours. [27 Oliver Twist illustrations, including the wrapper and the 13-vignette title-page produced for F. W. Cosens; 20 plates for William Harrison Ainsworth's The Miser's Daughter: A Tale of the Year 1774; 20 plates plus the proofcover the work for W. H. Maxwell's History of the Irish Rebellion in 1798 and Emmetts Insurrection in 1803]. London: A & C Black, 1903. OT = pp. 1-106]. Book in the Rare Book Collection of the University of Toronto.
Pailthorpe, Frederic W. (Illustrator). Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. London: Robson & Kerslake, 1886. Set No. 118 (coloured) of 200 sets of proof impressions.
Created 11 February 2015 Updated 12 December 2021