The complete set of twenty-four working tracings of the original designs for "Oliver Twist," some of which exhibit variations from the finished etchings, realised £140 at Sotheby's in March 1892. Water-colour _replicas_ of all the subjects were prepared by Cruikshank in 1866 for Mr. F. W. Cosens, which the artist supplemented by thirteen smaller drawings and a humorous title-page, the entire series being reproduced in colour for an _edition de luxe_ of "Oliver Twist," published by Chapman & Hall in 1894. The Cruikshank Collections in the British and South Kensington Museums include many of the artist's sketches and "first ideas" for the "Oliver Twist" plates, as well as a number of the matured designs. Here are several trial sketches for the monthly wrapper of the first octavo edition, executed in pencil with slight washes of sepia added; the original drawings for "Rose Maylie and Oliver" (known to collectors as the "Fireside" plate, to which reference will presently be made), and for "Mr. Bumble Degraded in the Eyes of the Paupers" (with marginal sketches), the title of which is appended in Dickens's autograph, where, instead of "the eyes," the word "presence" was originally written. Here, also, we find the first sketch of Noah Claypole enjoying an oyster-supper, with the following query written by the artist: "Dr. Dickens, 'Title' wanted--will any of these do? Yours, G. Ck." The proposed titles are then given, thus: "Mr. Claypole Astonishing Mr. Bumble and 'the Natives';" "Mr. Claypole Indulging;" "Mr. Claypole as he Appeared when his Master was Out,"--the latter being adopted. On the back of a pen-and-ink drawing of "Oliver's Reception by Fagin and the Boys," Cruikshank suggested a different title, viz., "Oliver Introduced to the Old Gentleman by Jack Dawkins." A beautiful little water-colour drawing of the subject, entitled "Oliver Introduced to the Respectable Old Gentleman," is in the Print Room of the British Museum, where we may also discover a portrait of Oliver himself--a profile study of the head as seen in the drawing now referred to. On the back of a sketch of Mr. Brownlow at the bookstall (for the plate entitled "Oliver Amazed at the Dodger's Mode of 'Going to Work'") is the rough draft of an unsigned note in the autograph of Cruikshank, evidently addressed to Dickens:-- "_Thursday Eg., June 15, '37._ "MY DEAR SIR,--Can you let me have a subject for the second Plate? The first is in progress. By the way, would you like to see the Drawing? I can spare it for an hour or two if you will send for it." PLATE VIII "MR. BUMBLE DEGRADED IN THE EYES OF THE PAUPERS" _Facsimile_ of the Original Sketch for "Oliver Twist" by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK The Inscription above the Sketch is in the Autograph of Dickens. [Illustration]