The Book of Snobs

by William Makepeace Thackeray

William Makepeace Thackeray was born in 1811 in Calcutta of Anglo-Indian parents. He was educated at English private schools and Cambridge but left without a degree. European travel was cut short by the loss of most of Thackeray's inheritance in 1833 in Indian bank failures, upon which he decided to make his living as a painter. Returning to London in 1837, he found himself with two young daughters and an insane wife by 1840 and forced to write for a living. Most of his early output was...