The editor has corrected printers' errors and annotated unfamiliarterms and allusions.<br /><br />Three illustrations by George Cruikshank and a map of Oliver's Londonaccompany the text.<br /><br />"Backgrounds and Sources" focuses on The Poor Law Amendment Act of1834, central both to Dickens and to the characters in Oliver Twist.The act's far-reaching implications are considered in source materialsthat include parlimentary debates on The Poor Laws, a harrowing accountof an 1835 Bedfordshire riot, and "An Appeal to Fallen Women," Dickens'1847 open letter to London's prostitutes urging them to turn theirbacks on "debauchery and neglect."<br /><br />Ten letters on <em>Oliver Twist</em>, written between 1837 and 1864, arereprinted, including those to the novel's publisher, the novel'sillustrator, and John Forster, Dickens' close friend and futurebiographer.<br /><br />In addition, readers can trace the evolution of the novel by examiningDickens' installment and chapter-division plans and enjoy "Sikes andNancy," the text of a public reading Dickens composed and performedoften to large audiences.<br /><br />"Early Reviews" provides eight witty, insightful, and at timesimpassioned responses to the novel and to Oliver's plight by WilliamMakepeace Thackeray and John Forster (anonymously), among others.<br /><br />"Criticism" includes twenty of the most significant interpretations of<em>Oliver Twist</em> published in this century. Included are essays by HenryJames, George Gissing, Graham Greene, J. Hillis Miller, Harry Stone,Philip Collins, John Bayley, Keith Hollingsworth, Steven Marcus, MonroeEngel, James R. Kincaid, Michael Slater, Dennis Walder, Burton M.Wheeler, Janet Larson, Fred Kaplan, Robert Tracy, David Miller, John O.Jordan, and Gary Wills.<br /><br />A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.