Vanity Fair. A Novel Without A Hero. COSWAY STYLE BINDING WITH UNIQUE PROVENANCE.

First Edition, First Issue. Octavo, etched frontispiece, vignette title page, rustic type at head of page 1, 38 plates, wood-engraved vignettes and initials in the text, all after Thackeray, the Marquess of Steyne woodcut on page 336. Published by Bradbury & Evans (London), 1848.

Finely bound in a later Cosway-style blue full morocco by Bayntun Riviere in Bath with their binder's signature to the front turn-in, the upper cover with inset hand-coloured oval portrait of Thackeray under glass, triple rule gilt border to covers, incorporating copious gilt foliate devices, spine separated into compartments by five raised bands finished in gilt, four containing gilt foliation, all edges gilt, turn-ins with gilt fillets and decorative gilt corner-pieces, marbled endpapers, red morocco gilt bookplate of W. A. Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey to front pastedown, two blue silk bookmarkers.

The binding is in fine condition. Internally, there is toning to some of the plates and occasional light spotting; near fine.

Vanity Fair was Thackeray's first major work and established his status as one of the great Victorian novelists. The story has been adapted for film and television on numerous occasions.

This copy has a unique and notable provenance having been owned by William Foyle (1883-1963), who co-founded the famous Foyles bookshop with his brother Gilbert, on Charing Cross Road in London. In 1943 William Foyle acquired the former medieval monastery of Beeleigh Abbey near Maldon in Essex, and put together one of the world's greatest private book collections, which he kept in the former monastic dormitory. Following William Foyle's passing in 1963, the abbey and book collection were inherited by his daughter Christina.

Christina left her estate to the Foyle Foundation, and after she passed away in 1999, the book collection was sold by Christies in July 2000, where it achieved a world record sales total. Unbeknown to the public, in a private agreement with Christies prior to the sale, many books from the collection were acquired by William's grandson Christopher, the nephew of Christina. Christopher also bought back the abbey and Foyles bookshop from the Foyle Foundation charity trustees at market value.

Christopher worked tirelessly to rejuvante the Foyle's bookshop and sold the business to Waterstones in 2018. Christopher and his wife Catherine additionally undertook significant restoration of Beeleigh Abbey, and added greatly to the book collection. Christopher received an OBE for services to publishing, aviation and charity, and served as Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Essex. Christopher passed away in August 2022 at the age of 79. Leo McKinstry, the British journalist, historian, and author, commented on his close friend Christopher after his passing:

"He was a distinguished entrepreneur and philanthropist, with an eclectic range of interests that reflected his lively, inquiring mind. His instinct for hard work was accompanied by gregarious, humorous, generous nature and an openness to maverick ideas. The manner of his passing mirrored his character, positive to the last. Having contracted a rare form of cancer, he fought heroically for years against the illness, never complaining, never far from laughter."

(Maldon Standard.)

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