This particular edition contains biographical introductions by Thackeray's daugher, Anne Ritchie.

The set contains the following works:

Volume I: Vanity Fair

Volume II: History of Pendennis

Volume III: The Memoirs of Mr Charles J. Yellowplush, The History of Samuel Titmarsh and The Great Hoggarty Diamond

Volume IV: The History of Henry Esmond and The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon

Volume V: Paris Sketch Book and Irish Sketch Book

Volume VI: Contributions to Punch

Volume VII: Henry Esmond

Volume VIII: The Newcomes

Volume IX: Christmas Books

Volume X: The Virginians

Volume XI: Adventures of Philip

Volume XII: The Wolves and The Lamb, Lovel the Widower and Rounabout Papers and Denis Duval

Volume XIII: Ballads and Miscelleanous Essays

William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July 1811 24 December 1863) was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society. He worked for Fraser's Magazine, a sharp-witted and sharp-tongued conservative publication, for which he produced art criticism, short fictional sketches, and two longer fictional works, Catherine and The Luck of Barry Lyndon. From 1837 to 1840 he also reviewed books for The Times.

Later, through his connection to the illustrator John Leech, he began writing for the newly created Punch magazine, where he published The Snob Papers, later collected as The Book of Snobs. In the early 1840s, Thackeray had some success with two travel books, The Paris Sketch Book and The Irish Sketch Book. He achieved more recognition with his Snob Papers (serialised 1846/7, published in book form in 1848), but the work that really established his fame was the novel Vanity Fair, which first appeared in serialised installments beginning in January 1847.

Even before Vanity Fair completed its serial run, Thackeray had become a celebrity, sought after by the very lords and ladies whom he satirised; they hailed him as the equal of Dickens. On 23 December 1863, after returning from dining out and before dressing for bed, Thackeray suffered a stroke and was found dead in his bed in the morning. His death at the age of fifty-two was entirely unexpected, and shocked his family, friends, and reading public. An estimated 7000 people attended his funeral at Kensington Gardens. He was buried on 29 December at Kensal Green Cemetery, and a memorial bust sculpted by Marochetti can be found in Westminster Abbey.

Contains the bookbinders' label of W.M. and A. of Westminster to each pastedown.