Beschreibung:

THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE. Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero. With Illustrations on Steel and Wood by the Author. London: Bradbury and Evans 1848. 8vo, original blue cloth, blocked in blind, spine gilt-lettered, uncut, rebacked preserving virtually all of the original spine, inner hinges broken, a signature misbound, red morocco pull-off case. FIRST EDITION, second issue, in book form, REPUTEDLY A PRESENTATION COPY TO CHARLOTTE BRONTË inscribed by Thackeray (in his slanting handwriting) on the blank recto of an advertisement leaf at front: "With the grateful regards of WM Thackeray. July 18, 1848" (July 18 was the date of publication of Vanity Fair in book form); with the second issue points: without the Marquis of Steyne woodcut on p. 336 and without the heading on p. 1 in rustic type; with the misprint (as in all copies of the first edition) "Mr. Pitt" for "Sir Pitt" on p. 453; with 40 engraved plates ( most with foxing ) and 150 text woodcuts by the author. Supposedly inscribed to Charlotte Brontë before Thackeray knew her name or sex, in thanks for the dedication of the second edition of Jane Eyre . On the front free endpaper is the pencilled signature "A.B. Nicholls," who married Charlotte Brontë in 1854; tipped onto the front free endpaper before this is a green printed slip advertising Pendennis , taken from the final number of the parts edition of Vanity Fair , bearing the faint pencil signature "A.B. Nicholls" (seemingly in a different hand). Tipped in at front is an autograph letter signed from Clement Shorter to Sir William Robertson Nicoll, London, 6 February 1918, 2 pages, 8vo , giving the provenance of this copy: "The copy of Thackeray's Vanity Fair which is now in your possession was purchased by me in 1894 from Arthur Bell Nicholls the husband of Charlotte Brontë at his house...[in] Ireland. He had brought it with other books from the parsonage at Haworth after his wife's death. It is the copy with an inscription in Thackeray's handwriting which he sent to the author of Jane Eyre soon after its publication & is described, with the inscription in facsimile, in my book Charlotte Brontë and Her Circle . Van Duzer 230; Grolier/ English 87. Presentation Thackerays, particularly of Vanity Fair , are rare. Provenance (not already noted above): Jerome Kern, bookplate (sale, Anderson Galleries, 24 January 1929, lot 1343) -- Barton Currie, bookplate (sale, Parke-Bernet, 8 May 1963, lot 400) -- Paul Francis Webster bookplate (sale, Sotheby's New York, 24 April 1985, lot 91). Sold as an association copy, not subject to return.