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Vanity Fair by Wm.Thackeray, Cosway Style Binding, First Edition, First Issue

About the Item

Vanity Fair; A Novel Without a Hero. With Illustrations On Steel and Wood By the Author. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848 / Vanity Fair; A Novel Without a Hero. With Illustrations On Steel and Wood By the Author. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848. First Edition, First Issue. 8vo; 8 3/8 x 5 1/8 in. (212 x 130 mm); pp. ix, 625,38 steel-engraved plates, engraved frontespiece, engraved vignette title page, and 150 woodcuts and illustrated capitals in the text by Thackeray. COSWAY-STYLE BINDING by BAYNTUM of Bath (stamp-signed on front turn-in) with HAND-PAINTED PORTRAIT MINIATURE of THACKERAY on IVORY inset in the front cover. Contemporary full green-blue crushed levant over beveled boards, elaborately tooled and gilt, raised bands, spine compartments with scrolling tooling, turn-ins with gilt fillets and corner lilies, moiré-silk doublures, a.e.g., hinges repaired, binding a little worn and edges scuffed, as expected in a well-loved book. [Grolier English 100, 57; Allibone, Thackeray 7; Van Duzer 231]. This is the FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of the best-known work by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), with the headline on page one in rustic type, the suppressed woodcut of the Marquis of Steyne on page 336, and with "Mr. Pitt" for "Sir Pitt" on page 453. The work was initially issued in 20 parts between January 1847 and July 1848 as a popular serial with distinctive canary-yellow covers, and it was printed as a bound volume by Bradbury & Evans in 1848, incorporating the author's own illustrations, and bearing his name on the title page for the first time. The novel gained him immediate critical acclaim: «Immeasurably superior, in our opinion, to every other known production of his pen.» — Edinburgh Review, Jan.1848 «One of the most amusing, but also one of the most distressing, books we have read for many a long year. We almost long for a little exaggeration and improbability to relieve us of that sense of dread truthfulness which weighs down our hearts, not for the Amelias and Georges of the story, but for poor kindred human nature.» — London Quarterly Review, Dec. 1848 «Mr. Thackeray's pathos has an effect that is really refresh-ing. It reminds one of the exquisite touches which occur in Fielding's Amelia.» — London Times, 1848 Vanity Fair was Thackeray's first major work and established his continued high standing among Victorian novelists. It follows the rise and fall of the opportunistic Becky Sharp and is a quintessential satire of life in early 19th Century Britain, giving a panoramic tour of English social strata. It has been the subject of numerous television and film adaptations, including one where Becky Sharp was played by Reese Witherspoon (2004). Condition: Near Fine.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 8.38 in (21.29 cm)Width: 5.13 in (13.04 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1848
  • Condition:
    Repaired: Hinges have been repaired. Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Middletown, NY
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: BH3831stDibs: LU8340233908222

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