Manuscript, Oliver Twist, or the parish boy's progress by Charles Dickens, vol. 5-6, England, 1837-38.

Ink on paper; modern binding
514 leaves, mounted in eight volumes (bound in seven); 23 cm.
Incomplete autograph manuscript. Written on handmade, wove writing paper. Many leaves have cancelled text on the verso. Ink type is iron-gall.
The writing paper is made up of 'Large Post' folio sheets that have been folded into bifolios, producing a 'Large Post' quarto, which were then torn in half by Dickens, mostly before writing. All manuscript leaves therefore have one torn side.
Each of the first eight instalments is headed 'Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. By Boz. Illustrated by George Cruikshank'.
Vol. 8 also contains a preface to Pickwick Papers, dated September 1847, and parts VII & IX of Master Humphrey's Clock.
Originally bound in 2 volumes rebound in 1994 in brown morocco half leather with marbled papers over boards. In drop back solander boxes. Because of the increase in bulk the volumes were divided according to the divisions of the bound photocopies which pre-existed this conservation operation.

Given by Charles Dickens to John Forster; bequeathed by John Forster 1876.

This is the original manuscript of Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, which he wrote in 1837-38. It is however not complete.
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 bound in seven volumes.

MSL/1876/Forster/151/5-6