THE THACKERAY COUNTRY; With Forty-eight Full-page Illustrations mostly from Original Photographs by C.W. Barnes Ward
London: Adam and Charles Black, 1911. B&W Photos by C.W. Barnes Ward. Reprinted Edition. Decorated & gilt-stamped cloth. 8vo, original publisher's green gilt-decorated cloth with Thackeray's coat of arms embossed in gold on the front cover, frontispiece with a glossy B&W photograph of Thackeray (tissue guard), 47 additional B&W glossy full-page photos, and a folding colored map of London after p.213, top edge gilded by publisher for dust protection, xii + 223 pages. Fine / None. Item #2543
The first edition of The Thackeray Country was published in 1905. This is effectively the Second Edition.
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 – 1863) was a British novelist and author. He is known for his parodies and satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.
As a young man in need of funds, Thackeray wrote the novels Catherine (serialized 1839-40) and The Luck of Barry Lyndon (serialized 1844), and--through his friendship with John Leech, the famous illustrator--soon became a regular contributor to Punch from 1843 through 1854. For them, he published The Snob Papers (1846-47), a success later serialized as The Book of Snobs (1848).
During this period, he also wrote Vanity Fair, which was first published as a 19-volume monthly serial in parts from 1847 to 1848, carrying the subtitle Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society, reflecting both its satirisation of early 19th-century British society and the many illustrations drawn by Thackeray to accompany the text. It was published as a single volume in 1848 with the subtitle A Novel without a Hero.
The novel's great success caused many Victorians to rank him with Dickens, and Thackeray felt "at the top of the tree", as he put it, for the rest of his life. He soon wrote several large novels, notably Pendennis, The Newcomes, and The History of Henry Esmond.
In addition to discussions and photos of sites associated with the aforesaid novels, this useful book includes chapters on the author's residences, Paris, as well as his trips to America and the Continent.
EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION and an important resource for lovers of Thackeray, as well as Dickens and other 19th century authors.
Price: $35.00