{"product_id":"the-life-of-charlotte-bronte-e-c-gaskell-4th-edition","title":"The Life of Charlotte Brontë, E. C. Gaskell — 4th Edition","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublication:\u003c\/b\u003e London, Smith, Elder and Co., 1858\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormatting:\u003c\/b\u003e 8vo, pp. xi, 486.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Report:\u003c\/b\u003e Good. The original dark green publisher’s cloth is largely intact, though exhibiting standard signs of age, including moderate bumping to the corners and rubbing along the joints, alongside minor fraying at the spine’s head and tail. The blind-stamped boards remain structurally sound and the gilt lettering to the spine is somewhat dulled but perfectly legible. Internally, the front free endpaper is notably absent, slightly straining the front inner hinge, though the text block itself remains cohesive. The pages display scattered, light foxing, most prominent around the frontispiece and title page due to natural offsetting from the tissue guard, with general, mild age-toning throughout. Despite the missing preliminary leaf and external wear, it remains a resilient, readable example.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCatalogue Note:\u003c\/b\u003e This 1858 printing represents the Fourth Edition of Elizabeth Gaskell's seminal biography of her close friend, Charlotte Brontë. Crucially, this edition marks the first time the work was condensed and issued as a single, accessible volume, following the controversial two-volume first edition published the year prior.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe volume is beautifully illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait of Brontë (retaining its original tissue guard) and a finely detailed vignette of Haworth Parsonage adorning the title page. A factual, contemporary ownership signature, reading \"Marg't O. Johnson,\" is present on the half-title page.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile Gaskell's landmark biography was a commercial success and went through numerous Victorian reprints, encountering this specific first single-volume edition in its original publisher's cloth without modern restoration is increasingly uncommon on the open market.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten at the behest of Patrick Brontë following his daughter's tragic and untimely passing, Elizabeth Gaskell's \u003ci\u003eThe Life of Charlotte Brontë\u003c\/i\u003e stands as one of the most celebrated and pioneering literary biographies of the nineteenth century. Gaskell, an esteemed novelist in her own right, offers a profoundly empathetic and intimate portrait of Charlotte, meticulously charting her bleak but intensely creative upbringing, her fiercely guarded privacy, and her extraordinary ascent to global literary stardom with the publication of \u003ci\u003eJane Eyre\u003c\/i\u003e. Drawing upon personal correspondence and first-hand accounts, Gaskell cemented the enduring mythos of the Brontë sisters and the rugged, romantic isolation of the Haworth Parsonage for all subsequent generations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Broadhursts Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54630276071763,"sku":"5213","price":80.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/1469\/6787\/files\/20260816_200018.jpg?v=1787137456","url":"https:\/\/broadhurstsbooks.com\/products\/the-life-of-charlotte-bronte-e-c-gaskell-4th-edition","provider":"Broadhursts Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}