Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair


Vanity Fair: Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society was originally published as a 19-volume monthly serial from 1847 to 1848, a satire set during the Napoleonic Wars. It was published as a novel in 1848, subtitled "A Novel without a Hero." [Illustrations by Thackeray, from the first edition: Becky Sharp as a "syren", a man-killing mermaid.]


Table of Contents

Before the Curtain

Chapter I: Chiswick Mall

Chapter II: In Which Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley Prepare to Open the Campaign

Chapter III: Rebecca Is in Presence of the Enemy

Chapter IV: The Green Silk Purse

Chapter V: Dobbin of Ours

Chapter VI: Vauxhall

Chapter VII: Crawley of Queen's Crawley

Chapter VIII: Miss Rebecca Sharp to Miss Amelia Sedley, Russell Square, London.

Chapter IX: Family Portraits

Chapter X: Miss Sharp Begins to Make Friends

Chapter XI: Arcadian Simplicity

Chapter XII: Quite a Sentimental Chapter

Chapter XIII: Sentimental and Otherwise

Chapter XIV: Miss Crawley at Home

Chapter XV: In Which Rebecca's Husband Appears for a Short Time

Chapter XVI: The Letter on the Pincushion

Chapter XVII: How Captain Dobbin Bought a Piano

Chapter XVIII: Who Played on the Piano Captain Dobbin Bought

Chapter XIX: Miss Crawley at Nurse

Chapter XX: In Which Captain Dobbin Acts as the Messenger of Hymen -

Chapter XXI: A Quarrel About an Heiress

Chapter XXII: A Marriage and Part of a Honeymoon -

Chapter XXIII: Captain Dobbin Proceeds on His Canvass

Chapter XXIV: In Which Mr. Osborne Takes Down the Family Bible

Chapter XXV: In Which All the Principal Personages Think Fit to Leave Brighton

Chapter XXVI: Between London and Chatham

Chapter XXVII: In Which Amelia Joins Her Regiment

Chapter XXVIII: In Which Amelia Invades the Low Countries

Chapter XXIX: Brussels

Chapter XXX: "The Girl I Left Behind Me"

Chapter XXXI: In Which Jos Sedley Takes Care of His Sister

Chapter XXXII: In Which Jos Takes Flight, and the War Is Brought to a Close

Chapter XXXIII: In Which Miss Crawley's Relations Are Very Anxious About Her

Chapter XXXIV: James Crawley's Pipe Is Put Out

Chapter XXXV: Widow and Mother

Chapter XXXVI: How to Live Well on Nothing a Year

Chapter XXXVII: The Subject Continued

Chapter XXXVIII: A Family in a Very Small Way

Chapter XXXIX: A Cynical Chapter

Chapter XL: In Which Becky Is Recognized by the Family

Chapter XLI: In Which Becky Revisits the Halls of Her Ancestors

Chapter XLII: Which Treats of the Osborne Family

Chapter XLIII: In Which the Reader Has to Double the Cape

Chapter XLIV: A Round-about Chapter between London and Hampshire

Chapter XLV: Between Hampshire and London

Chapter XLVI: Struggles and Trials

Chapter XLVII: Gaunt House

Chapter XLVIII: In Which the Reader Is Introduced to the Very Best of Company

Chapter XLIX: In Which We Enjoy Three Courses and a Dessert

Chapter L: Contains a Vulgar Incident

Chapter LI: In Which a Charade Is Acted Which May or May Not Puzzle the Reader -

Chapter LII: In Which Lord Steyne Shows Himself in a Most Amiable Light

Chapter LIII

Chapter LIV: Sunday After the Battle

Chapter LV: In Which the Same Subject is Pursued

Chapter LVI: Georgy is Made a Gentleman

Chapter LVII: Eothen

Chapter LVIII: Our Friend the Major

Chapter LIX: The Old Piano

Chapter LX: Returns to the Genteel World

Chapter LXI: In Which Two Lights are Put Out

Chapter LXII: Am Rhein

Chapter LXIII: In Which We Meet an Old Acquaintance

Chapter LXIV: A Vagabond Chapter

Chapter LXV: Full of Business and Pleasure

Chapter LXVI: Amantium Irae

Chapter LXVII: Which Contains Births, Marriages, and Deaths

Return to the William Makepeace Thackeray library.

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