The San Francisco call., 1910-08-16
THACKERAY EASILY
SOLD VANITY FAIR
Story That He Was Compelled
to Offer Book to Many Pub=
fishers Is Untrue


caused a revival of the ridiculous story
of his having vainly offered Vanity
Fair" to half the publishers in London
before he could get it accepted. When
Thackeray had finished two numbers
of Vanity Fair he offered the serial
TO Bradbury & Evans, and they at once
accepted his terms Most of Thack-
eray's books were written from num-
Der to number month by month, and
when the publication of Vanity Fair
began the third number had not been
completed Thackeray himself told
several of his friends that the first
money he ever earned by literary work
was paid to him by C. W. NJ Reynolds,
whose Mysteries of the Court" and
"Pickwick Abroad" had a great run
in the forties.
Thackeray lamented his folly" in
having written under many names in
the earlier years of his literary career,
instead of adopting a ''rememberable"
nom de plume such as had been taken
by Dickens, says the Westminster Re-
view. OF his minor pieces Thackeray
was most pleased with "Codlingsby"
and George de Barnwell" These two
must be read with the illustrations in
order to be properly appreciated. Cod
lingsby' irritated Lord Beaconsfield
exceedingly and 35 years after it's pub
lication he avenged himself by his
sketch of St. Barbe in "Endymion."
Sir Robert Peel, the minister, was de-
lighted with ''Codlingsby," and it was
said that he had never laughed so
heartily before in his life when he
read it. Sir Robert at once made
Thackerays acquaintance (through
Mr.. and Lady Harriet Baring), and the
novelist several times dined with the
former minister in Whitehall gardens.
George de Barnwell" was a skit on
Eugene Aram." Thackeray' greatly
disliked Sir Edward Bulwer- -Lytton,
whom he ridiculed as "Mistaw Edward
Lytton- -Bulwig," reproducing his drawl.
All attempts to bring about cordial re-
lations failed.
Sir Theodore Martin was one of
Thackeray's most intimate and trusted
friends. They were neighbors in On
slow square for several years and saw
each other daily when in town. Sir
Theodore possessed a large collection
of Thackeray's letters, written in the
most unreserved style and containing
caustic criticisms of many celebrated
persons and many we'll known books.
Thackeray removed from Onslow
square to kensington palace garden,
and on the day of his death Martin re-
ceived letter from him stating that
he did not care for his new house and
he would be glad to get rid of it If a
purchaser could be obtained.
Thackeray disliked A. Hayward, who
had attempted to patronize him. Hay
ward is the Mr.. Flam of Mrs. Perkins
Ball" and he is depicted to the very
life in ''Pendennis" as Wenham at Bun
gays dinner party in Paternoster row.
Thackeray ridiculed Samuel Warren,
but he praised to the skies the venom
Gus sketch of Hayward in Ten Thou
sand a Year" where he figures as Mr..
Venom Tuft.
Thackeray usually put off his work
until the latest possible hour and he
often had TO finish number while the
emissary from the printers was wait
ing in the hall for his copy. He wrote
a great deal of Philip" at the Athen-
cum. One day. when he had compiled
a number, he laid down his bundle of
manuscript in the lavatory and forgot
it. An urgent messenger arrived at
his house in the evening for the copy,
hut Thackeray was dining out. Next
morning he rushed down to the club in
desperate anxiety, and the manuscript
was ultimately discovered in a dust
mans box. into which it had been
swept by housemaid. He was just in
time to recover it, and he said after
ward that he could no more have writ
ten the nuNtDcI over again INdn lie
could have flown in the air.
Thackeray was morbidly sensitive to
any criticism of his work and chaff of
any kind on this subject made him
quite unhappy. He was satisfied with
his sketch of Lord Ringwood in Phil
ip" and thought it an improvement on
Lord Steyne. 1t was understood that
the character of Colonel Newcombe
had been taken in a great measure
from his stepfather and that the orig
inal of Mrs. Mackenzie was his own
mother in law. As editor of the Corn
hill Ma gazine he was miserable when
sending back contributions from per
sons who pleaded poverty and distress
and he very often sent a gift of money
with the rejected manuscript. Thack-
cray told more than one of his friends
that the greatest modification of his
literary life had been the request of
the editor of Fraser's Magazine that
he would cut short The Hoggarty Dia-
mond,' which was intended to have
been twice as long a story as it now
appears.