• This edition includes the following editor’s introduction: The parallel lives of two of the great masters of British literature: Dickens and Thackeray

Published in book form in 1848, “The Book of Snobs” is a collection of satirical articles by British author William Makepeace Thackeray.
The pieces first appeared successfully in satirical magazine
Punch as “
The Snobs of England, by One of Themselves, ” and are sketches of London characters that display Thackeray’s virtuosity in quick character-drawing.
The pieces, which were immensely popular and thrust Thackeray into widespread public view, were rigorously revised before their collection in book form and omitted the numbers which dealt with then current political issues.
This humorous study begins with the assertion that ‘
Snobs are to be studied like other objects of Natural Science.’