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Magnificent pairing of an original illustration and one page of the original handwritten manuscript for Thackeray's greatest work, Vanity Fair: an original pen-and-ink sketch by Thackeray on an off-white 5.75 x 7 sheet, showing Joseph 'Jos' Sedley escaping from Brussels on horseback, captioned in Thackeray's own hand: "We do not claim to rank among the military novelists. Our place is among the non-combatants. We return with the women and the baggage, listening afar off and out of the reach of shot to the din of the battle"; and a page of Thackeray's handwritten manuscript for Vanity Fair, 5.75 x 8.75, from Chapter 48, in part: "She turned over all these thoughts on her pillow and on the next day when Rawdon went out to pay his morning visit to the Club, Mrs. Crawley (in a modest dress with a veil on) whipped off in a hackney-coach to the City: and being landed at Messrs. Jones and Robinson's bank, presented a document there to the authority at the desk, who, in reply, asked her 'how she would take it?' She gently said she would take a hundred and fifty pounds in small notes and the remainder in one note: and passing through St. Paul's Churchyard stopped there and bought the handsomest black silk gown for Briggs which money could buy; and which, with a kiss and the kindest speeches, she presented to the simple old spinster. Then she walked to Mr. Raggles, inquired about his children affectionately, and gave him fifty pounds on account. Then she went to the Livery Man from whom she jobbed her carriages and gratified him with a similar sum." Each is professionally inlaid into a larger sheet, and bound opposite a typed caption in a handsome 8.75 x 11.75 full red morocco binding, featuring gilt-stamped titles on the front board and spine, with the bookplate of A. Edward Newton affixed inside the front cover. In very good to fine condition, with some stains and marginal tears to the illustration.
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published as a serial from January 1847 to July 1848, is a satirical novel that explores the lives, ambitions, and moral complexities of its characters in 19th-century British society. The story follows Becky Sharp, a cunning and resourceful woman, and Amelia Sedley, her virtuous but naive counterpart, as they navigate love, fortune, and social status. These pages focus on Amelia's brother, Joseph, who made his fortune as a collector in India, and Becky Sharp (Mrs. Crawley), who finds herself in an increasingly precarious social situation as she manipulates the finances of others while her own debts mount. Known for its biting wit and realism, Vanity Fair critiques the hypocrisy and superficiality of a materialistic world and is sometimes considered the 'principal founder' of the Victorian domestic novel.
