Very pretty edition with clean medium green boards ornately decorated at face and spine in gilt and russet. The ornate decoration to face board and spine is crisp and bright with no loss of color or gilding in either area. Book is tightly bound with untoned pages and illustrated in blacka nd white. There's a presentation inscription wiritten on front free endpaper and also a dried posey hiding inside. It did leave a mark on the page, but the old practice of drying flowers in a books is sweetly sentimental. Though Thackeray is commonly equated with Vanity Fair -- and it's certainly the novel that secured his fortune --- it was this one he most favored. equate Thackeray with Vanity Fair and the travails of the scheming Becky Sharpe -- and certainly it's the novel that secured his fortune -- but it's not the only one he wrote. Henry Esmond was, in fact, the novel Thackeray treasured most and for that alone it deserves a read. Published in 1853, the book is set during the reign of Queen Anne and tells the tale of an officer in Marlborough's army as he struggles with his loyalty to the old Tory-Catholic England, only to wind up disillusioned with it. It's written as a memoir after he settled in Virginia in the 1700's. Lest you think it's all political, rest assured that Esmond falls in love with not one, but two, women -- Lady Castlewood and Beatrix, her beautiful, headstrong daughter! The book is very clean and tightly bound with very little wear. Pages are untoned and enlivened with black and white drawings. There's a lovely presentation inscription to front free endpaper dated 1905. But go to the middle of the book and -- surprise! -- a dried posey hiding inside. Yes, it did leave a bit of a mark on the page, but the old habit of drying plants in the pages of books is sweet and sentimental. Published by Thomas Crowell. 532 pages. Most of us equate Thackeray with Vanity Fair and the travails of the scheming Becky Sharpe -- and certainly it's the novel that secured his fortune -- but it's not the only one he wrote. Henry Esmond was, in fact, the novel Thackeray treasured most and for that alone it deserves a read. The book is very clean and tightly bound with very little wear. Pages are untoned and enlivened with black and white drawings. There's a lovely presentation inscription to front free endpaper dated 1905. But go to the middle of the book and -- surprise! -- a dried posey hiding inside. Yes, it did leave a bit of a mark on the page, but the old habit of drying plants in the pages of books is sweet and sentimental. Published by Thomas Crowell. 532 pages.

Classic Literature. William Thackeray. Fiction