At the beginning of the 20th century, a young New York City ad sales genius named Condé Montrose Nast parlayed his savings and decided to become a publisher. Over the decades, he would collect and polish the crown jewels of the magazine world. He started by buying a fashion magazine, Vogue; next he bought a struggling general interest title called Vanity Fair. After a nearly disastrous start, the magazine found its footing under a brilliant and erudite editor, a Manhattan brahmin named Frank Crowninshield. Vanity Fair, like all great magazines, was very much a reflection of its polymathic editor in chief, who once described himself like this: “My interest in society—at times so pronounced that the word ‘snob’ comes a little to mind—derives from the fact that I like an immense number of things which society, money, and position bring in their train: paintings, tapestries, rare books, smart dresses, dances, gardens, country houses, correct cuisine, and pretty women.”