The Oxford Edition of Our Mutual Friend: 2 vols.

The aim of the Oxford Dickens is to publish the works of Charles Dickens in a form that represents what he himself sanctioned and approved, but purged of errors in the transmission of the texts from the manuscripts to first publication, and without the errors and ‘improvements’ effected by printers as the works were republished. In practice this means that the copy-text for each work in the Oxford Dickens will normally be the earliest publication of the work in question.

The choice of the earliest edition as copy-text permits readers (should they tackle his works in the order in which they were published) to observe his development as a writer, as it appeared to his contemporaries. The Oxford Dickens goes further, for the existence of his plans, manuscripts and proofs (for some but not all of his works) means that the process of writing can be charted. Each volume in this edition provides a narrative of the evolution of the text from manuscript to print. Dickens revised his works from time to time as they were republished, particularly in collected editions; the Oxford Dickens records all verbal variants from those later editions into which it can be demonstrated that Dickens had an input. Thus the Oxford Dickens offers a complete history of the evolution of each of his works during his lifetime.