Description
Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero by William Makepeace Thackeray was published in London by Smith, Elder & Co. in 1902, as Volume I of the Biographical Edition of the Works of William Makepeace Thackeray.
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) was one of the major English novelists of the Victorian era, best known for Vanity Fair, first published in serial form between 1847 and 1848. Subtitled A Novel Without a Hero, the novel is a satirical examination of English society, ambition and social climbing, and remains one of Thackeray’s best-known works.
The publisher, Smith, Elder & Co., was an important London publishing house of the 19th and early 20th centuries, known for publishing significant English literary works and authors. The company was based at 15 Waterloo Place, London, the address given on this volume’s title page.
This 1902 edition is handsomely bound in half leather over marbled boards, with raised bands and decorative gilt tooling and lettering to the spine. The blue, cream and gold marbled paper covering the boards is particularly attractive and is continued in the marbled front and rear pastedowns and endpapers.
The volume opens with a portrait of Thackeray and a facsimile of his signature, followed by the title page. The text is illustrated throughout, with numerous illustrations accompanying the novel, including full-page illustrations and smaller illustrations within the text. One of the illustrated plates depicts Mr. Jos shaving off his moustache.
The binding shows the wear one would expect from a book of this age, particularly to the leather spine, raised bands and edges, with areas of rubbing and loss to the surface of the leather. Despite this, the binding remains sound and retains its decorative character. The pages are all present and securely bound, and the text block is generally clean and well preserved, with the expected age-toning to the paper.
A later newspaper clipping has been laid into the volume and remains with the book as found. It contains a sonnet accompanied by quotations from Shakespeare, Chaucer, an Old English proverb and Cervantes. The clipping is not part of the original publication, but is an interesting remnant of the book’s later history.
A representative copy of an early 20th-century Thackeray edition, combining a substantial Victorian literary work with an attractive period binding, marbled papers and book illustration. For readers and collectors of English literature, Thackeray remains an important presence on the bookshelf, and Vanity Fair is his most enduringly recognized novel.
~See all of the pictures posted in the Gallery Area of this posting!~
Please send a message to set up the best shipping option before payment!
For inquiries, please email: admin@ashtreebooks.com
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.