{"product_id":"2940013671256","title":"THE BOOK OF SNOBS (Illustrated by the Author)","description":"The genus \"Snob\" formed the subject of the earliest of Thackeray's studies of character. When he was an undergraduate of Cambridge, in 1829, there appeared an unpretending little weekly periodical entitled \"The Snob: a Literary and Scientific Journal,\" Not \"conducted by members of the University,\" to which Mr. Thackeray was a contributor; and it probably owed its name and existence to him. Each number contained only six pages, of a small octavo size, printed on tinted paper of different colors, green, pink, and yellow; and, as if to complete the eccentricity of the periodical, its price was twopence-halfpenny. \"The Snob\" had but a short life, only eleven numbers having been published; the first being dated April 9th, 1829, and the last, June 18, of the same year.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn those contributions which appear to have been written by Thackeray, indications are discernible of the fine satiric humor with which he ridiculed vulgarity and pretension in \" The Book of Snobs.\" But as the Publishers believe that the Author would not himself have wished such fugitive papers, hastily thrown off in sport for his own amusement, at an early period of his life, to be republished, none of them have been included in this volume.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf 'The Book of Snobs' is based upon a confusion of thought, it nonetheless has conspicuous merits. The style, though now and again forced to a witticism, is often as lucid and supple as Thackeray's best; the sketches of character scattered up and down the book are admirably fresh and truthful, nor does the fact that he afterwards drew them on a larger scale impair their interest and veracity. Thackeray made no scruple of repeating himself, and 'The Book of Snobs,' no less than 'The Sketch Books,' contains the raw material of much fiction. Cinqbars and Glenlivat, my Lady Carabas and the Honourable Sir George Tufto, were already alive in the pages of 'Punch,' and the years did no more than add to their natural growth. But 'The Book of Snobs' touched the popular fancy, and made Thackeray famous. It achieved more than this: it profoundly influenced its author. Thackeray once said that \"the Snob Papers were those of his writings he liked the least,\" and we can easily believe it. Nonetheless he never shook himself free from its bondage. From then on, he was, more often than not, a chronicler of snobs, and it was only when his imagination carried him back to the eighteenth century that he forgot the twisted standard of life he had himself set up. It is not uncommon, this spectacle of an author enslaved by his own book; but the slavery dimmed Thackeray's outlook upon the world, and it is impossible to observe without regret the complacency wherewith he answered the too urgent demand of the people.","brand":"OGB","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079648329968,"sku":"2940013671256","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013671256_p0.jpg?v=1763584154","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013671256","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}