Vanity Fair

First published in 1847-48, this novel follows Becky Sharp, a penniless governess's daughter, and her gentle school friend Amelia Sedley from a Waterloo-era girls' school through marriage, the Brussels campaign, and years of London and continental scrambling. Becky uses charm and plot to rise beside the raw Rawdon Crawley and the heavy Jos Sedley; Amelia clings to the memory of George Osborne while William Dobbin waits. The narrator calls the book a novel without a hero and keeps the fair of society in view. It is a panoramic satire of fortune-hunting, not a battle history of 1815.

21 leaves of. Full green-blue artificial silk binding. Pale lilac endleaves. Lilac and black slipcase.