The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904. The Kensington Edition. Near Fine. Thirty-two octavo volumes (8 9/16 x 5 5/8 inches; 217 x 143 mm.). A Near Fine set, handsomely bound in contemporary three-quarter red morocco, ruled in gilt, over pink mottled paper boards. Frontispieces, plates, and text illustrations, after the originals. Spines decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, top edge gilt, others uncut. Two volumes with small nicks or rubbing to the crowns, otherwise the leather is intact and without any cracking at the joints.
 
"In beginning with the four great novels the edition follows the logical tradition of the first complete and revised edition published after Thackeray's death; an attempt at a strict chronological succession, which would give precedence to minor works, would confuse the reader and has only pedantic arguments in its favor. In general, the order followed is that of the edition referred to (that of 1869); but some slight variations have been made, sometimes for the sake of bringing closer together work of the same general kind, sometimes—where no important associations were violated—frankly in the interest of uniformity in the size of volumes. It is believed that the inclusion for the first time in this edition of the well-known Brookfield Letters will be especially welcome. The frontispiece to the initial volume is from the drawing by Samuel Laurence, perhaps the most satisfactory portrait of Thackeray in his prime; and in later volumes other portraits will be given, including several unfamiliar photographs" (Note to the Kensington Edition).
 
"The novelist William Makepeace Thackeray lived at 16 Young Street in Kensington from 1846 until 1854, and during this time published his most famous work, Vanity Fair." Near Fine.