Result of the Competition
uE object of a publisher's book notice, generally written a the wrapper, is to attract the attention of the public, and ve a fair but arresting description of the contents. The rester part of the entries for our last competition (to write a ublisher's notice of Vanity Fair) do not fulfil this function. fine journalistic sense is probably necessary for writing of his kind. Other notices must be disqualified because they are Titten as though for a new edition of Vanity Fair, published t the present day. On the whole, the entries for this collo- dion fall short of the standard generally attained by Pretator contributors, but Mr. Murray, to whom the prize is carded, has summarized, we think, the essential character- lei of Vanity Fair in an attractive and appropriate ono .- ' Readers of Punch will rejoice that the gifted contributor of the n?6 Papers has at last given us a full-dress novel. It is, as might be expected, a scathing exposure of snobbery, t It is very much more than that. While its faithful delineation the age of Waterloo lends it historical value for future generations, masterly portraiture of character suggests that a rival has arisen Austen herself. t Mr. Thackeray, in a preface, speaks modestly of his ' puppets; so far from these being inanimate dolls, they are all instinct with • Three at least of his characters are likely to survive along !II the best-known in fiction, and one is unique, for Becky Sharp ,herself would make the story an unqualified success.
And never surely was satire of the frailties of human nature so tided with a gentle undertone of charity and kindness-"
In another entry from the same pen there is a sentence which is an excellent example of the manner in which these notices should be written :—" We hear the echoes of the Waterloo guns, watch the witcheries of Vauxhall, and look over the shoulders of gamblers at Pumpernickel."
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