The William Makepeace Thackeray Library

Volumes I and II of this new collection reprint the best of Thackeray's magazine fiction, criticism, and travel writings, using the Deluxe edition of the Collected Works by Smith, Elder and Co which is fully illustrated, mostly by the author.

Catherine: A Story, The Ravenswing , articles from The Paris Sketchbook and much more demonstrate the extensive range of Thackeray's satirical commentary on the subtle representation of English genteel society.

Volumes III - VI comprise significant nineteenth-century responses to Thackeray including Trollope's critical biography, an illustrated account of Thackeray's lecture tour in America by his secretary, the artist Eyre Crowe, and the first full-length biography, by Lewis Melville.

The Melville volume also contains his extensive bibliography of Thackeray's writings, still the most comprehensive written.

Richard Pearson's new introductions examine the context of Thackeray's periodical writings and his use of magazines as historical sources and cultural signifiers.

In addition, Pearson discusses the changing nineteenth-century attitudes to Thackeray's writings and artistic achievements. The Melville bibliography is also reassesse in the light of subsequent research.