THACKERAY, William Makepeace; THACKERAY, WALKER, Frederick, Doyle, Richard, DU MAURIER, George (illus.); PENDENNIS, Arthur (ed.)
Vols. I & II. Vanity Fair. viii, 407; iv, 392 p. Vols. III & IV. The History of Pendennis. xii, 448; iv, 448 p. Vols. V & VI. The Newcomes. iv, 464; iv, 456 p. Vol. VII. The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. xv, 452 p. Vols. VIII & IX: The Virginians. iv, 457; vi, 451 p. Vols. X & XI. The Adventures of Philip on His Way Through the World. 359; 343 p. Vol. XII. The Paris Sketch Book, and The Yellowplush Papers. vi, 444 p. Vol. XIII. The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon. The History of Samuel Titmarsh and the Great Hoggarty Diamond. iv, 416 p. Vol. XIV. The Irish Sketch Book. Notes of a Journey From Cornhill to Grand Cairo. viii, 514 p. Vol. XV. The Book of Snobs. Sketches and Travels in London, etc. vii, 440 p. Vol. XVI. Burlesques. vii, 448 p. Vol. XVII. The Christmas Books of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh. viii, 328 p. Vol. XVIII. Ballads and Tales. vi, 413 p. Vol. XIX. The Four Georges. The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century. 362 p. Vol. XX. Roundabout Papers. The Second Funeral of Napoleon. vi, 428 p. Vol. XXI. Denis Duval. Lovel The Widower, etc. iv, 386 p. Vol. XXII. Catherine. Little Travels. The Fitzboodle Papers, etc. etc. iv, 390 p. "Nobody ever reads the same book twice. People are expected to read [Vanity Fair] during their university years. But you are mistaken if you think you read [William Makepeace] Thackeray's book then; you read a lesser book of your own. It should be read again when you are thirty-six, which is the age of Thackeray when he wrote it. It should be read for the third time when you are fifty-six, sixty-six, seventy-six, in order to see how Thackerays irony stands up to your own experience of life. Perhaps you will not read every page in these later years, but you really should take another look at a great book, in order to find out how great it is, or how great it has remained, to you. Robertson Davies in The Merry Heart.