Vanity Fair - 3 Volumes by William Makepeace Thackeray. New York. 1865. Harper & Brothers. There are 40 plates and numerous text illustrations, all done by Thackeray himself. 350 pages, 354 pages, 346 pages. hardcovers.
VANITY FAIR follows the adventures of Becky Sharp, beautiful, resourceful, driven, and completely amoral. Becky makes full use of her connections after leaving finishing-school to secure a job as a governess in a seedy household with an established family. She goes on to win the hearts of young and old, provided of course that they have something to offer her. Ultimately, Becky becomes a courtesan on the Continent, living well beyond her means. This, Thackeray's greatest novel, is a delightful journey through the world of early nineteenth-century English manners. Thackeray is a master at pointing out the folly of the good-at-heart and the evil of those with grace and wit. The novels of Thackeray, particularly VANITY FAIR, were great obsessions of C. L. R. James, the Trinidadian author, who was reportedly reading Thackeray at eight years old. I love Thackeray for his sharp satire of the petty pretensions of middle-class British society at the time. A good, sound, vintage set, containing a great treasure on the inside - There are 40 plates and numerous text illustrations, all done by Thackeray himself.
FROM THE PUBLISHER -
VANITY FAIR is the story of Becky Sharp, one of the most beautiful, willful, and resourcefully charming pleasure-seekers in literature. With finishing- school credentials and proper connections, Becky begins as a governess, wins the hearts of the moneyed young and old, and, in the light of presentation at court and calculated scandals, emerges a full-fledged courtesan on the Continent, living surprisingly well beyond her means. Thackeray’s greatest novel is a moral tapestry of early nineteenth-century English manners, and his persistent theme is the folly of the good-at-heart, the evil of those endowed with grace and wit. Anthony Trollope called Thackeray ‘. one of the recognized stars of the literary heaven. ’ V. S. Pritchett finds Thackeray ‘. the first of our novelists to catch life visually and actually as it passes in fragments before us. he is above all a superb impressionist-perhaps our greatest.’
William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.