A Tale.
IN EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION
Shirley A Tale.
Smith, Elder, 1849.
First edition. Three volumes. Original publisher's plum-brown, horizontally ribbed cloth with gilt titles to spine and decorative border stamped in blind to the covers. Page 304 in vol II is missnumbered 403, though to be an early state of the text. Three pages of adverts to the rear of vol III, sixteen page catalogue of adverts dated October 1849 at the end of vol I. A fine set, exceptionally bright and crisp, with a touch of fading to the spine but much less so than usual and the covers still retaining much of the original puce hue. Internally very fresh, superficial splitting to the rear hinges of vol I and III and early ownership name to title pages. An exceptional set of a book seldom seen in unrepaired cloth.
Charlotte Bronte's second novel. It is one of the foremost examples of the Victorian Social Novel, which uses fiction to highlight the impact of social issues, in this case industrialisation and the state of the country's working class rural and urban poor. The novel is set in Yorkshire against the historical backdrop of the economic depression of the Napoleonic Wars and the Luddite Riots.
The period in which Bronte wrote Shirley was a tragic one for her family, as it saw the deaths of her two literary sisters, Emily and Anne and her brother Bramwell. She wrote to her publisher in August, "Whatever now becomes of the work, the occupation of writing it has been a boon to me. It took me out of a dark and desolate reality into an unreal but happier region".
The two principal characters, Shirley Keeldar and Caroline Helstone are loosely based on a homage to Emily and Anne.
Smith 5
Stock ID: 46412
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