The frontispiece of the Cheap Edition of "Oliver Twist" (1850)

The frontispiece of the Cheap Edition (1850)

George Cruikshank; engraved by T. Bolton

Weekly and monthly from 1 December 1849

Woodblock-engraving, 13 cm by 8.6 cm, vignetted

For the volume publication of Oliver Twist, 20 April 1850.

This inexpensive edition contained only the Cruikshank woodblock as an illustration. The three figures are Bumble, resplendent in his beadle's uniform; young Oliver Twist (right); and Mrs. Mann, proprietress of Mudfog's baby-farm and practitioner of the starving system.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.].

Passage Realised

Mrs. Mann ushered the beadle into a small parlour with a brick floor; placed a seat for him; and officiously deposited his cocked hat and cane on the table before him. Mr. Bumble wiped from his forehead the perspiration which his walk had engendered, glanced complacently at the cocked hat, and smiled. Yes, he smiled. Beadles are but men: and Mr. Bumble smiled.

"Now don't you be offended at what I'm a going to say," observed Mrs. Mann, with captivating sweetness. "You've had a long walk, you know, or I wouldn't mention it. Now, will you take a little drop of somethink, Mr. Bumble?"

"Not a drop. Nor a drop," said Mr. Bumble, waving his right hand in a dignified, but placid manner.

"I think you will," said Mrs. Mann, who had noticed the tone of the refusal, and the gesture that had accompanied it. "Just a leetle drop, with a little cold water, and a lump of sugar."

Mr. Bumble coughed. [Chapter 2, "Treats of Oliver Twist's Growth, Education, and Board"]

Commentary

As Oliver Twist had been issued in a number of editions, beginning with the three-volume Richard Bentley publication of November 1838 and the 1846 single-volume edition issued by Bradbury (to say nothing of Philadelphia 1838-9 piracies by Lea and Blanchard), one might suppose that market had been glutted; in fact, after the "New edition, in ten monthly parts and one volume" (1846), printed from a copy of the third edition (1841) with reference to Dickens's corrected manuscript, there appeared three further significant editions:

The Cheap Edition (from 1 December 1849) with a single woodblock illustration as the frontispiece, especially commissioned for this edition, and a new preface (March 1850); this was the basis for the People's Edition (21 May 1865), with the frontispiece taken from the original illustrations, Oliver is made extremely welcome, which is merely a re-titled copy of Oliver's reception by Fagin and the boys (from part 8, November 1837);

The Library Edition (4 December 1858), with a title-page vignette by Hablot Knight Browne, with the 1846 preface. This became the basis for the Illustrated Library Edition, Vol. 12, published in December 1861, with the Cruikshank illustrations;

The Charles Dickens Edition, vol. 3 (1 August 1867) with eight of the Cruikshank illustrations.

References

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.

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; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Bradbury and Evans; Chapman and Hall, 1846.

Dickens, Charles. The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. The Cheap Edition. Frontispiece by George Cruikshank. London: Chapman and Hall, 1850.

_______. The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London & New York: Macmillan, 1892 [contains reproductions of the 1846 wrapper, of the first page of the 1838 Bentley volume, and of the first page of the Prest serial, Oliver Twiss].

_______. The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. Il. George Cruikshank. Ed. Kathleen Tillotson. Oxford: Clarendon, 1966.

Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens. Ed. Paul Schlicke. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1999.

Kitton, Frederic G. "George Cruikshank." Dickens and His Illustrators: Cruikshank, Seymour, Buss, "Phiz," Cattermole, Leech, Doyle, Stanfield, Maclise, Tenniel, Frank Stone, Topham, Marcus Stone, and Luke Fildes. 1899. Rpt. Honolulu: U. Press of the Pacific, 2004. Pp. 1-28.

Last modified 10 September 2015