Vanity Fair

I just finished Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. It was first published between January 1847 and July 1848 as a monthly serial and was subtitled Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society. When it was done, it was published as a single volume with the subtitle A Novel without a Hero.

Thackeray also drew many illustrations for it, including full-page drawings, smaller inset drawings, and letter illuminations. I downloaded a scan of an 1848 edition which includes them. The text wasn't that easy to read, though, so I also downloaded the EPUB from Project Gutenberg (despite the encouraging "images" in the filename, it did not include Thackeray's drawings).

This is the best of both worlds, I guess. You certainly don't want to miss the drawings, but you don't want hard-to-read text either (this is a long book). It should also be easy to find a regular ink-on-paper copy. I understand the Bantam Classics paperback edition includes the illustrations.

I started watching the 2018 adaptation by Gwyneth Hughes. It is in seven parts. I've only seen part one. Looks good!

The drawing entitled "Mr Joseph entangled" and the same scene with Olivia Cooke as Becky Sharp and David Fynn as Jos Sedley.

Update (2024-08-09): I just finished watching the adaptation. Gorgeous!