Vanity Fair; A Novel Without a Hero

Oxford: The Limited Editions Club [printed by the Oxford University Press], 1931. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine/very good. Austen, John. Two volumes (complete), one of 1500, quarto size, 798 total pp., signed by John Austen, with slipcase. This Limited Editions Club publication of William Makepeace Thackeray's (1811-1863) best-known work, "Vanity Fair", contains line drawings by English illustrator John Austen (1886-1948), who illustrated many books such as "Hamlet", "Tristram Shandy", and "Madame Bovary"; his style was at first influenced by Aubrey Beardsley and was later shaped by the Art Deco movement. Austen visualises the delicate relationships between the characters in these ethereal drawings, each hand-coloured by Daniel Jacomet.

G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), an inimitable man of letters who wrote on a variety of subjects from Christian apologetics to detective novels, provides the introduction to this edition of Thackeray's work, examining the different readings of Thackeray over time, as well as the use of satire to shed light on various aspects of society.

___DESCRIPTION: Quarter magenta cloth with patterned paper boards in orange, green, and black, gilt lettering on the spine, fore- and bottom edges uncut, endpapers with the same pattern as the boards, frontispiece a line drawing in black by John Austen, with hand-colouring by Daniel Jacomet, title page with black-and-white illustration by Austen, full-page line drawings in black by Austen, with hand-colouring by Jacomet, throughout both volumes; monotype Baskerville, Arches mouldmade paper, quarto size (11.75" by 7.75"), pagination: Volume One: [i-v] vi-xx [1] 2-365; Volume Two: [i-v] [366-367] 368-772 [1 colophon], one of 1500 copies, this number 563, signed by John Austen on the colophon in Volume Two. In a patterned paper dust jacket matching the boards, with a grey paper label with line drawing in black by Austen on the front panel, and grey paper spine label with black lettering and illustration. Housed in a slipcase covered in papter with the same pattern as the boards, with a beige paper spine label with black lettering and yellow and pink embellishments.

___CONDITION: Volumes fine overall, with clean boards, straight corners, strong, square text blocks with solid hinges, the interiors are clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; both volumes with minor off-setting to the free endpapers, else fine. The dust jackets very good, unclipped (no printed price present), clean with bright colours, with overall light edgewear, minor wear to the heads and tails of the spines, and both spines sunned with some very light spotting. The slipcase very good, strong and sturdy with any tears to the seams, clean overall with some overall dustiness, sunning to the spine, and minor wear to the edges of the opening.

___CITATION: LEC no. 22.

___POSTAGE: Please note that this is a large and heavy set, and therefore additional postage will apply; please inquire for details.

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