The Rose and the Ring is a great classic. This edition, however, is an outright fraud. The original has rhyming couplets across the page tops, this edition omits them. The original has illustrations by Thackeray, who originally intended to pursue a career as an illustrator, but this edition omits them. It's like printing an Alice in Wonderland without the Tenniel drawings and with none of the songs. This edition is a waste of paper. Shame on Amazon for selling it! Now I have to return to the search for a real printing...

This is a very funny and clever book that deals with the appeal and danger of beauty. It is a great book for all ages with some very well done illustrations through out the book. The bottom review is from the back of my copy of the book.

A magic rose and ring which make those in the possession of them attractive, togather with a mischiviouse fairy who adds, "a little misfurtone" to the lives of a prince and a princess, creat hilariouse complications on a unusual fairy story.

This is a classic funny story that has stayed in my mind for 30 years. I first read it as a kid less than 10 and it was as wonderful and meaningful then as it is now.

The story of Giglio, Rosalba, Angelica and Bulbo casts a magic spell. Then of course there's Countess Gruffanuff.....

Classic's are classics with good reason.

It is now just over 7 months since I first read Thackeray's appallingly poor "The History of Henry Esmond." Though it has been nearly 2 YEARS since I last read "Vanity Fair," I still retain a reasonably good working knowledge of that novel; sadly -- or, perhaps, not so sadly after all -- that does not hold true for "Esmond." So poorly conceived, so poorly executed, and so very slight, this novel ultimately makes no real claim on your memory. I simply CAN'T remember anything about this wretched book other than its remarkable level of wretchedness. To some -- and you know who you are -- it may seem as if I am engaged in some kind of vendetta against this book and Thackeray in general. To those persons, I can only respond with an Everlasting Yea! Go forth and read Mrs. Gaskell -- a writer who actually wrote novels worth reading (except for "Ruth," which is inexplicably awful). Yes. Go do that.

Although for some reason forgotten by the US public, "The History of Henry Esmond" is one of the finest books ever written in English language. May be it has lost its luster because it offers no excess of blood-spilling and sexual adventures, but instead finds its way to describe the deepest and most vulnerable chambers of the human heart. I have read a handful of books, be it in English, French, German or Russian, that described the human strengths and weaknesses while tying them to a character one can relate to with such skill. People who do not like it, it seems, are just shamed by the morals offered in such a book, and are quick to forget it. I read "Henry Esmond" when I was a young boy, and now, half a century later, it hasn't lost a beat.

In the minds of some, justifiably the finest novel in the English language. The neglect this novel has suffered is appalling. Requirement: a mind for detail, a sympathy for history, an artistic sensibility. Read it at least twice. Only one reader in a thousand will remember the button reference on the last line. A pity that this book should be out-of-print. Pater thought it a perfect work of fiction. Trollope thought it was unsurpassed.