Gaskell

1857 · ref. 15421 — London; Smith Elder and Co. 65 Cornhill 1857. 1857. Second edition issued the same year as the first. Two volumes complete octavo pp. viii 352; viii 327 1. Frontispieces to both volumes. Complete with the half-titles. Uniform contemporary green half-calf over marbled paper-covered boards; spines on four raised bands; titled in gilt to red morocco spine label; gilt rolls to bands; lettered and ornamented with Amphorae in gilt and blind to compartments; all edges marbled; white end-papers. Historic library bookplate of Marlborough Public Library to upper boards; ink stamps of the same throughout. Rubbing to boards; corners bumped; light gouges to spine with slight loss to label of vol. 1. Very occasional light scattered foxing but generally internally clean. A serviceable set. The first biography of Charlotte Bront�. Gaskell drew together a dearth of sources including correspondence with those who knew Bront� in life to produce this admirable if unreliable biography of the author. Following an accusation of slander by living individuals portrayed unfavourably in the biography the publisher retracted the first edition and produced a second redacted edition. This edition is a useful but flawed source for Bront�'s life as Charles Kingsley wrote to Gaskell in the wake of the book's publication: 'You have had a delicate and great work to do and you have done it admirably. Be sure the book will do good. It will shame literary people into some stronger belief that a simple virtuous practical home life can be consistent with highly imaginative genius; and it will shame too the prudery of a�carefully whitewashed age into believing that purity�is quite compatible with the knowledge of evil.' BLFC p. 22. Wise and Symington eds. The Brontes: Their Lives Friendships and Correspondence vol. iv p. 22. London; Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill, 1857. hardcover