This is the original manuscript of Oliver Twist, or the parish boy’s progress, one of Charles Dickens’ best-known works and a prime example of Victorian fiction. The novel tells the story of the angelic orphan Oliver who grows up in a workhouse, then falls victim to London’s criminal underworld.

Oliver Twist was published in monthly instalments in the magazine Bentley’s Miscellany from 1837 to 1839, with Dickens writing each section of the novel to meet these deadlines. This allowed little time for revisions, until the novel was republished later. The story was written quickly and confidently, with the manuscript showing relatively few corrections and hesitation. The manuscript also bears visible signs of Dickens’s cooperation with illustrators (such as George Cruickshank) and printers: among the pages are fingerprints of printing ink, printers’ names scrawled across the pages, and leaves that were cut in half to be distributed to typesetters. The manuscript also contains fascinating details such as an altercation between Mr and Mrs Bumble that was later omitted. This manuscript offers revealing insight into the dynamic creative process that produced this beloved novel.

Dickens bequeathed the manuscript to his close friend and biographer, John Forster (1812–76) who was a noted critic, essayist and historian. During his life, Forster collected a vast library which included most manuscripts of Dickens’s novels. He bequeathed this collection to his wife until her death; whereupon it would pass to what was then the South Kensington Museum (renamed the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1899), so that it could be used by the nation. The manuscripts Forster bequeathed continue to be an invaluable resource to scholars and researchers, providing information about Dickens’s creative process.
Originally written on loose leaves, it was later bound in two volumes, but following extensive conservation work, it is now rehoused in eight volumes (bound in seven).