With an introduction by George Saintsbury.

This set contains only ten of the original seventeen volumes.

The set consists of The Great Hoggarty Diamond, The Fitz-Boodle Papers, and Men's Wives in one volume, with 17 illustrations, Ballads and Contributions to 'Punch' 1842-1850 in one volume with 106 illustrations, Henry Esmond, The English Humourists and The Four Georges in one volume, with 36 illustrations, The Paris Sketch-Book and Art Criticisms, in one volume, with 103 illustrations, The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq and Miscellaneous Papers, in one volume, with 57 illustrations, The Wolves and the Lamb, Lovel the Widower, Denis Duval and Roundabout Papers, in one volume, with 60 illustrations, Vanity Fair a Novel Without a Hero, in one volume, with 193 illustrations, The History of Pendennis, His Fortunes and Misfortunes, His Friends and His Greatest Enemy, in one volume, with 182 illustrations, Christmas Books, Rebecca and Rowena and Later Minor Papers, 1849-1861, in one volume, with 170 illustrations, and The Newcomes, Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, in one volume, with 172 illustrations.

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.