Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero.

London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848 . First edition. Leather. Very Good. 9" by 6". William Makepeace Thackeray. An mixed issue copy of the first edition of Thackeray's classic novel, set during the Napoleonic Wars. Illustrated throughout by the author himself. A first edition in book form, mixed issue; without the suppressed woodcut to page 336 of the first issue, but with "Mr. Pitt" for "Sir Pitt" on page 453, as with the first issue. With the engraved title page dated 1849, and the general title page dated 1849. The first issue is dated 1848 to both title pages.Illustrated with a frontispiece, engraved title page, and thirty eight further plates. Collated, complete.Thackeray's novel follows the entangled adventures of two school friends, the gentle and trusting Amelia Sedley and the calculating Becky Sharp, as they come of age during the Napoleonic War. Thackeray displays an interest in deconstructing his era's conventions regarding heroism, with the work sometimes considered the foundation of the Victorian domestic novel.Bound without advertisements.A bright copy of this celebrated Victorian era novel. Rebound in half calf, with marbled paper boards and endpapers renewed. A touch of rubbing to rear joint, otherwise externally fine. Front hinge starting, with board holding firm. Internally, firmly bound. Pages generally clean and bright, with spotting to title page and frontispiece, and further instances of light spotting throughout. Very Good