Editing Vanity Fair (novel) (section)

==Publication history==
[[File:Vanity Fair Prospectus.png|right|thumb|The 1847 [[prospectus (book)|prospectus]] for the ''Vanity Fair: Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society'' serial, advertising it under [[William Makepeace Thackeray]]'s pen name Michael Angelo Titmarsh and under his own name.]]
[[File:Houghton EC85 T3255 848vb - Vanity Fair, title.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The title page of the 1848 first edition of ''Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero''.]]
[[File:Vanity Fair D720.png|thumb|right|''Becky's second appearance in the character of [[Clytemnestra]]'', an illustration and caption by Thackeray that makes it clear he considered her to have killed Jos for his insurance money.<ref name=bigmac/>]]
Thackeray may have begun working out some of the details of ''Vanity Fair'' as early as 1841 but probably began writing it in late 1844.{{refn|Tillotson & al.,{{sfnp|Tillotson & al.|1963|pp=xvii ff.}} cited in York.{{sfnp|York|1997|p=29}}}} Like many novels of the time, ''Vanity Fair'' was published as a [[serial (literature)|serial]] before being sold in book form. It was printed in 20 monthly parts between January 1847 and July 1848 for ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' by Bradbury & Evans in London. The first three had already been completed before publication, while the others were written after it had begun to sell.<ref name=poohcorner/>

As was standard practice, the last part was a "double number" containing parts 19 and 20. Surviving texts, his notes, and letters show that adjustments were made – e.g., the Battle of Waterloo was delayed twice – but that the broad outline of the story and its principal themes were well established from the beginning of publication.{{refn|Tillotson & al.,{{sfnp|Tillotson & al.|1963|pp=xvii ff.}} cited in York.{{sfnp|York|1997|p=29}}}} 
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
:No. 1 (January 1847) Ch. 1–4
:No. 2 (February 1847) Ch. 5–7
:No. 3 (March 1847) Ch. 8–11
:No. 4 (April 1847) Ch. 12–14
:No. 5 (May 1847) Ch. 15–18
:No. 6 (June 1847) Ch. 19–22
:No. 7 (July 1847) Ch. 23–25
:No. 8 (August 1847) Ch. 26–29
:No. 9 (September 1847) Ch. 30–32
:No. 10 (October 1847) Ch. 33–35
:No. 11 (November 1847) Ch. 36–38
:No. 12 (December 1847) Ch. 39–42
:No. 13 (January 1848) Ch. 43–46
:No. 14 (February 1848) Ch. 47–50
:No. 15 (March 1848) Ch. 51–53
:No. 16 (April 1848) Ch. 54–56
:No. 17 (May 1848) Ch. 57–60
:No. 18 (June 1848) Ch. 61–63
:No. 19/20 (July 1848) Ch. 64–67
{{div col end}}
The parts resembled pamphlets and contained the text of several chapters between outer pages of [[steel engraving]]s and advertising. [[Wood engraving]]s, which could be set along with normal moveable type, appeared within the text. The same engraved illustration appeared on the canary-yellow cover of each monthly part; this colour became Thackeray's signature, as a light blue-green was Dickens's, allowing passers-by to notice a new Thackeray number in a bookstall from a distance.<ref name=castaway/>

''Vanity Fair'' was the first work that Thackeray published under his own name and was extremely well received at the time. After the conclusion of its serial publication, it was printed as a bound volume by Bradbury & Evans in 1848 and was quickly picked up by other London printers as well. As a collected work, the novels bore the subtitle ''A Novel without a Hero''.{{efn|In addition to its other intentions, the name was a jab at [[Thomas Carlyle]]'s "Lectures on Hero and Hero-Worship".{{sfnp|Sutherland|1988|loc="Carlyle & Carlylism"}}}} By the end of 1859, [[royalties]] on ''Vanity Fair'' had only given Thackeray about [[GBP|£]]2000, a third of his take from ''[[The Virginians]]'', but was responsible for his still more lucrative lecture tours in Britain and the United States.<ref name=castaway>{{harvp|Wilson & al.|1970|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-U2aQz1NqgC&pg=PA13 13]}}.</ref>{{efn|In the letter where he recorded these sums, Thackeray noted "Three more years please the [[Fates]] and the girls will have eight or ten thousand a-piece that I want for them: we must n't<!--sic--> say a word against filthy lucre for I see the use and comfort of it every day more and more. What a blessing not to mind about bills."<ref name=castaway/>}}

From his first draft and following publication, Thackeray occasionally revised his allusions to make them more accessible for his readers. In Chapter 5, an original "Prince Whadyecallem"<ref>{{citation |title=Vanity Fair |year=1848 |url=https://archive.org/stream/VanityFair1848 |page=[https://archive.org/stream/VanityFair1848#page/n63/mode/2up 36]}}.</ref> became "Prince Ahmed" by the 1853 edition.{{sfnp|York|1997|p=28}} In Chapter 13, a passage about the filicidal [[Bible|Biblical]] figure [[Jephthah]] was removed, although references to [[Iphigenia]] remained important.{{sfnp|York|1997|p=28}} In Chapter 56, Thackeray originally confused [[Samuel]] – the boy whose mother [[Hannah (biblical figure)|Hannah]] had given him up when called to by [[Jewish God|God]] – with [[Eli (biblical figure)|Eli]],<ref>{{citation |title=Vanity Fair |year=1848 |url=https://archive.org/stream/VanityFair1848 |page=[https://archive.org/stream/VanityFair1848#page/n591/mode/2up 504] }}.</ref> the old priest to whose care he was entrusted; this mistake was not corrected until the 1889 edition,{{sfnp|York|1997|p=133}} after Thackeray's death.

The serials had been subtitled ''Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society'' and both they and the early bound versions featured Thackeray's own illustrations. These sometimes provided symbolically-freighted images, such as one of the female characters being portrayed as a man-eating [[mermaid]]. In at least one case, a major plot point is provided through an image and its caption. Although the text makes it clear that other characters suspect Becky Sharp to have murdered her second husband, there is nothing definitive in the text itself. However, an image reveals her overhearing Jos pleading with Dobbin while clutching a small white object in her hand. The caption that this is ''Becky's second appearance in the character of [[Clytemnestra]]'' clarifies that she did indeed murder him for the insurance money,<ref name=highwater/> likely through [[laudanum]] or another poison.{{sfnp|Dibattista|1980}}<ref name=bigmac>{{citation |contribution=W.M. Thackeray's Illustrations for ''Vanity Fair'' |contribution-url=http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/thackeray/67.1.html |title=The Victorian Web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/ |last=Macguire |first=Matthew |year=2000 }}.</ref>

"The final three illustrations of ''Vanity Fair'' are tableaux that insinuate visually what the narrator is unwilling to articulate: that Becky... has actually been substantially rewarded – by society – for her crimes."{{sfnp|Jadwin|1993|p=48}} One of the Thackeray's plates for the 11th issue of ''Vanity Fair'' was suppressed from publication by threat of prosecution for [[British libel law|libel]], so great was the resemblance of its depiction of Lord Steyne to the [[Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford|Marquis of Hertford]].<ref>{{citation |contribution=Suppressed Plates |year=1899 |title=Pall Mall Magazine |location=London }}.</ref> Despite their relevance, most modern editions either do not reproduce all the illustrations or do so with poor detail.

{{expand list|date=September 2016}}
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |location=London |publisher=Bradbury & Evans |year=1848 }} {{nowrap|[&thinsp;[[:s:Vanity Fair (Thackeray)|Wikisource]]&thinsp;]}} {{nowrap|[&thinsp;Archive.org&thinsp;]}}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero, ''Vols. I, II, & III'' |location=Leipzig |publisher=Tauchnitz |year=1848 }}, reprinted 1925.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ql0OAAAAQAAJ |year=1853 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |location=London |publisher=Bradbury & Evans }}, without illustration.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero, ''Vols. I, II, & III'' |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Bros. |year=1865 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=weQooPhAWq8C |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Bros. |year=1869 }}, reprinted 1898.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |location=London |publisher=Smith, Elder, & Co. |year=1883 }}, reprinted 1886.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |publisher=[[Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, of Beauclerc|Walter Scott]] |year=1890 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |publisher=George Routledge & Sons |year=1891 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero, ''Vols. I & II'' |location=New York |publisher=Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. |year=1893 }}, in four editions.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray, ''Vol. I:'' Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |editor-last=Ritchie |editor-first=Anne Isabella Thackeray |location=London |publisher=Smith, Elder, & Co. |year=1898 }}
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero, ''Vols. I, II, & III'' |editor-last=Gwynn |editor-first=Stephen |publisher=Methuen |year=1899 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair, ''Vols. I & II'' |editor-last=Doyle |editor-first=Richard |location=New York |publisher=P.F. Collier & Son |year=1902 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |year=1906 |publisher=Thomas Nelson & Sons |location=New York }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair, ''Vols. I & II'' |editor-last=Neilson |editor-first=William Allan |location=New York |publisher=P.F. Collier & Son, republished 1917 |year=1909 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |editor-last=Tillotson |editor-first=Geoffrey |editor2=Kathleen Tillotson |display-editors=1 |publisher=Riverside |location=Boston |year=1963 |ref={{harvid|Tillotson & al.|1963}} }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair |series=Tales Retold for Easy Reading |editor-last=Page |editor-first=Josephine |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press, reprinted 1967, 1975, & 1976 |year=1964 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |editor-last=Sutherland |editor-first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGGfqtTVXPYC |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=1983 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |isbn=9780192834430 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=''浮華世界 [''Fuhua Shijie'', ''Vanity Fair'']'' |editor-last=Zhang |editor-first=Xinci |location=Tainan |publisher=Daxia Chubanshe |year=1992 }}, reprinted 1995. {{in lang|zh}} 
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair |publisher=W.W. Norton & Co. |year=1994 |location=New York |editor-last=Shillingsburg |editor-first=Peter }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair |editor-last=Francis |editor-first=Pauline |year=2000 |location=Harlow |publisher=Pearson Education }}, reprinted 2008.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |editor-last=Carey |editor-first=John |publisher=Penguin |location=London |year=2001 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |editor-last=Mowat |editor-first=Diane |title=Vanity Fair |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2002 }}, reprinted 2003, 2004, & 2008.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |editor-last=Butler |editor-first=James |editor2=Kenneth Brodey |display-editors=1 |title=Vanity Fair |location=Genoa |publisher=Black Cat |year=2004 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=Vanity Fair |editor-last=Walker |editor-first=Elizabeth |year=2007 |location=Oxford |publisher=Macmillan }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NPU5lgHYHiYC |title=Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2013 |isbn=9781108057059 }}.
* {{citation |last=Thackeray |first=William Makepeace |author-link=William Makepeace Thackeray |display-authors=0 |title=''名利场 [''Mingli Chang'', ''Vanity Fair'']'' |editor-last=Hui |editor-first=Tang |location=Beijing |publisher=Waiyu Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu Chubanshe |year=2014 }}. {{in lang|zh}}{{nbsp}}&
{{div col end}}
{{clear}}