
author
1811–1863
Best known for Vanity Fair, he wrote sharp, funny novels that exposed the manners and ambitions of Victorian society. His work mixes satire with sympathy, giving even flawed characters a very human edge.

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray, Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, Henry Mayhew, Horace Mayhew, Albert Smith

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray, Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, Henry Mayhew, Horace Mayhew, Albert Smith

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray

by William Makepeace Thackeray
Born in Calcutta in 1811, William Makepeace Thackeray became one of the major English novelists of the 19th century. He studied law and art before turning fully to writing for magazines and newspapers, where his wit, eye for social detail, and skill as an illustrator helped set him apart.
His reputation rests above all on Vanity Fair (1847–1848), the novel that first appeared under his own name and remains his best-known work. He also wrote The Luck of Barry Lyndon and The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., and in his own time he was widely seen as an important rival to Dickens.
Thackeray's fiction is remembered for its satire, but it is rarely cold. Alongside his mockery of greed, snobbery, and pretension, he had a strong sense of the weaknesses people share, which gives his novels both bite and warmth. He died in London in 1863.