‘Vanity Fair’ was an English magazine published weekly in London between 1868 and 1914 and considered to be the literary and social voice of Victorian and Edwardian Britain. The magazine’s founder, Thomas Gibson Bowles (1841-1922), was brought up in a bohemian household and after a short period in the civil service became a journalist. In 1868 he began his own society journal and called it ‘Vanity Fair’. On 30 January 1869 he introduced the first full-paged coloured caricature, of Benjamin Disraeli, and sales never looked back. Each was accompanied by a witty and sometimes biting biographical sketch. In the words of Matthews and Mellini it was ‘the most successful Society magazine in the history of English journalism’. Famous artists who contributed are Sir Leslie Ward (1851-1922), who studied at Eton and then the Royal Academy and published under the pen name Spy, for who Vanity Fair will remain synonymous. He also contributed to the ‘World Magazine’ 1910-11. Others include Carlo Pellegrini (1839-89), Max Beerbohm (1872-1956), James Tissot (1836-1902) and the American Thomas Nast (1840-1902).

This is the first double-page image published in Vanity Fair on 1 July 1879. Less than 20 were printed in the entire history of the magazine. This is arguably the rarest. The artist was Alfred Chantrey Corbould (1852-1920) who was born into a family of artists. His father was Alfred Hitchens Corbould (1821-74), himself the son of Henry Corbould (1787-1844). Brought up in Kensington he studied art under his uncle Charles Samuel Keene (1823-91), an illustrator for ‘Punch’ magazine. He exhibited his work at the Royal Academy from 1879 and specialised in sport caricature, an ideal subject for the magazine ‘Vanity Fair’.

‘The Row in Season’ refers to the fashion of English society enjoying Rotton Row in London’s Hyde Park. In the centre of the are the Prince and Princess of Wales on horseback. The route was originally designed as a safe passage for King William III to travel safely between Kensington Palace to St. James’s Palace and called the Route du Roi. Over time it was corrupted to Rotton Row. Matthews & Mellini (1982); Savory (1979) p. 178.