Oliver Twist

The Original 1838 Unabridged and Complete Edition (Aeons Classics)

Charles Dickens

• Publisher: Aeons Classics
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781998114245
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

The story of Oliver Twist - orphaned, and set upon by evil and adversity from his first breath - shocked readers when it was published. After running away from the workhouse and pompous beadle Mr Bumble, Oliver finds himself lured into a den of thieves peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the Artful Dodger, vicious burglar Bill Sikes, his dog Bull's Eye, and prostitute Nancy, all watched over by cunning master-thief Fagin. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens created an entirely new kind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• 1 Treats of the Place Where Oliver Twist Was Born and of the Circumstances Attending His Birth
• 2 Treats of Oliver Twist’s Growth, Education, and Board
• 3 Relates How Oliver Twist Was Very Near Getting a Place Which Would Not Have Been a Sinecure
• 4 Oliver, Being Offered Another Place, Makes His First Entry into Public Life
• 5 Oliver Mingles with New Associates. Going to a Funeral for the First Time, He Forms an Unfavorable Notion of His Master’s Business
• 6 Oliver, Being Goaded by the Taunts of Noah, Rouses into Action, and Rather Astonishes Him
• 7 Oliver Continues Refractory
• 8 Oliver Walks to London. He Encounters on the Road a Strange Sort of Young Gentleman
• 9 Containing Further Particulars Concerning the Pleasant Old Gentleman, and His Hopeful Pupils
• 10 Oliver Becomes Better Acquainted with the Characters of His New Associates; and Purchases Experience at a High Price. Being a Short, but Very Important, Chapter in This History
• 11 Treats of Mr. Fang the Police Magistrate; and Furnishes a Slight Specimen of His Mode of Administering Justice
• 12 In Which Oliver Is Taken Care Of Better Than He Ever Was Before. And in Which the Narrative Reverts to the Merry Old Gentleman and His Youthful Friends.
• 13 Some New Acquaintances Are Introduced to the Intelligent Reader, Connected with Whom Various Pleasant Matters Are Related, Appertaining to this History
• 14 Comprising Further Particulars of Oliver’s Stay at Mr. Brownlow’s, with the Remarkable Prediction Which One Mr. Grimwig Uttered Concerning Him, When He Went Out on an Errand
• 15 Showing How Very Fond of Oliver Twist, the Merry Old Jew and Miss Nancy Were
• 16 Relates What Became of Oliver Twist, After He Had Been Claimed by Nancy
• 17 Oliver’s Destiny Continuing Unpropitious, Brings a Great Man to London to Injure His Reputation
• 18 How Oliver Passed His Time in the Improving Society of His Reputable Friends
• 19 In Which a Notable Plan Is Discussed and Determined On
• 20 Wherein Oliver Is Delivered Over to Mr. William Sikes
• 21 The Expedition
• 22 The Burglary
• 23 Which Contains the Substance of a Pleasant Conversation between Mr. Bumble and a Lady; and Shows That Even a Beadle May Be Susceptible on Some Points
• 24 Treats on a Very Poor Subject. But Is a Short One, and May Be Found of Importance in This History
• 25 Wherein This History Reverts to Mr. Fagin and Company
• 26 In Which a Mysterious Character Appears upon the Scene; and Many Things, Inseparable from This History, Are Done and Performed
• 27 Atones for the Unpoliteness of a Former Chapter; Which Deserted a Lady, Most Unceremoniously
• 28 Looks After Oliver, and Proceeds with His Adventures
• 29 Has an Introductory Account of the Inmates of the House, to Which Oliver Resorted
• 30 Relates What Oliver’s New Visitors Thought of Him
• 31 Involves a Critical Position
• 32 Of the Happy Life Oliver Began to Lead with His Kind Friends
• 33 Wherein the Happiness of Oliver and His Friends, Experiences a Sudden Check
• 34 Contains Some Introductory Particulars Relative to a Young Gentleman Who Now Arrives upon the Scene; and a New Adventure Which Happened to Oliver
• 35 Containing the Unsatisfactory Result of Oliver’s Adventure; and a Conversation of Some Importance Between Harry Maylie and Rose
• 36 Is a Very Short One, and May Appear of No Great Importance in Its Place, but It Should Be Read Notwithstanding, as a Sequel to the Last, and a Key to One That Will Follow When Its Time Arrives
• 37 In Which the Reader May Perceive a Contrast, Not Uncommon In Matrimonial Cases
• 38 Containing an Account of What Passed Between Mr. and Mrs. Bumble, and Mr. Monks, at Their Nocturnal Interview
• 39 Introduces Some Respectable Characters with Whom the Reader Is Already Acquainted, and Shows How Monks and the Jew Laid Their Worthy Heads Together
• 40 A Strange Interview, Which Is a Sequel to the Last Chamber
• 41 Containing Fresh Discoveries, and Showing That Surprises, Like Misfortunes, Seldom Come Alone
• 42 An Old Acquaintance of Oliver’s, Exhibiting Decided Marks of Genius, Becomes a Public Character in the Metropolis
• 43 Wherein Is Shown How the Artful Dodger Got into Trouble
• 44 The Time Arrives for Nancy to Redeem Her Pledge to Rose Maylie. She Fails.
• 45 Noah Claypole Is Employed by Fagin on a Secret Mission
• 46 The Appointment Kept
• 47 Fatal Consequences
• 48 The Flight of Sikes
• 49 Monks and Mr. Brownlow at Length Meet. Their Conversation, and the Intelligence That Interrupts It
• 50 The Pursuit and Escape
• 51 Affording an Explanation of More Mysteries than One, and Comprehending a Proposal of Marriage with No Word of Settlement or Pin-Money
• 52 Fagin’s Last Night Alive
• 53 And Last