- Brief description
- A copy of Charles Dickens's reading copy of Sikes and Nancy
- Label
- Sikes and Nancy was the section of Oliver Twist where Bill Sikes murders Nancy. Dickens edited the text for 'readings' or public performances, including stage directions or cutting some lines. Dickens's original reading copy is lost - this text was copied by the actor Adeline Billington, who borrowed Dickens's text in 1868, the year Dickens first performed Sikes and Nancy. Dickens exhausted himself performing this dramatic scene and badly damaged his health. A doctor who took his pulse after readings noted Sikes and Nancy raised his heartrate higher than any other text he read.
- Collection
- Library
- Object number
- [lib]6688
- Object type
- book
- Title
- Sikes and Nancy, a Reading.
- Production person
- Dickens, Charles
- Production date
- 1868-1869
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