“No vices are so hard to eradicate as those which are popularly regarded as virtues. Among these the vice of reading is foremost.”

A great American novelist offers a scathing attack on the worst kinds of reading. Edith Wharton argues that the growing cultural influence of “mechanical” readers is having a disastrous impact on the world of letters. A subtly devastating work of social criticism, The Vice of Reading is also a celebration of the voracious and amoral consumption that marks out the very best readers.

Eris Gems make available in the form of beautifully produced saddle-stitched booklets a series of outstanding short works of fiction and non-fiction.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) is widely regarded as one of the greatest American novelists. Best known for The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence and The Custom of the Country, she was also an incisive cultural critic and memoirist.