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April 22, 2014,

armedforces_1

"Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens. 1943. This edition of "Oliver Twist" is part of the Ransom Center’s Armed Services Editions collection, which houses more than 1,000 paperback editions printed for soldiers during World War II. The U.S. Army began publishing Armed Services Editions in 1943, hoping the portable volumes would entertain soldiers between duties. By the time the army stopped publishing the editions four years later, they had distributed more than 123 million copies of 1,300 titles to soldiers on active duty on the battlefields in Europe and the Far East. The subjects of the Armed Services Editions ranged from mystery and adventure tales to the classics. The paperbacks were generally produced in a horizontal format with a picture of the original hardback’s dust jacket.

About Jane Robbins Mize

Mize was an undergraduate intern who studied English and Latin at The University of Texas at Austin. She also worked in the Rare Books Collection at the Benson Latin American Collection and was Deputy Editor of Foxing Quarterly.

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Ransom Center Magazine Spring 2026

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