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Hard cover 12mo, (measuring 4 x 6 1/2 inches) in original glazed maroon pebbled publisher's cloth, with titles in gilt to the spine between double ruled lines. Text block edges speckled red. Yellow end papers. Manufactured without the half title and the two sets of ads which were featured in the regular "railway editions," also referred to as the "cheap editions," of this time. Copyright 1859; no way to know if it is an original first or a reprint. Printed by Smith Elder and Co., Little Green Arbour Court, London, E.C. [1], (5) - 371pp. [2]. CONDITION: Very Good Plus. Sunning to spine and upper front board (a lesser amount). Text block top a bit dusty. Front hinge just starting. Otherwise, square, with clean tips, edges and lightly crimped endcaps. A couple very minor light marks, as seen. Pages gently age toned with early pages a bit soiled. Foxing to prelims. **THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL (1848) is a remarkable departure from the Brontë sisters' more well-known works. This is no gothic romance like "Wuthering Heights" (1847, Emily Brontë) or "Jane Eyre" (1847, Charlotte Brontë). The villain is much more close to home, the terrors much more domestic. Whereas her sisters are famous for the wild, Byronic Heathcliff of "Wuthering Heights" and the "madwoman in the attic" of "Jane Eyre," Anne Brontë describes a woman, Helen Graham, trapped in a marriage to an abusive drunk. What makes the book so important is Helen's strength of character - to flee her husband in order to protect her child, but also to aid him when he is ill. This, then, is no simple morality tale or novel of social manners and courtship, but a bold (and shocking at the time) exposé of female empowerment and moral strength. Helen refused to have her son corrupted by her husband's self-destructive behavior, and left him. Anne's more famous sister, Charlotte, refused to have her sister's novel reprinted after the latter's death, and opined that Anne's works were just lesser than her own. To this reader, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" can speak for itself. **EDITION: The 1859 Smith Elder "New Edition" was based on the 1854 T. Hodgson "Parlour Edition," itself an expurgated, single-volume remake from the original 3-vol. first edition of 1848. This book, then, has a slightly more classy alternative hard cover binding than the Smith Elder railroad yellow-backs (The Cheap Editions,) which were, by contrast, done up in rather more gaudy, attention-grabbing orangey-gold soft printed wraps and with much advertising both front, rear and on the wraps themselves. Bibliographer William Smith identifies our book as a subedition to these, made uniform with five other Brontë titles, for the price of 3s.6d. Another marketing variation of the same material could be purchased in half morocco with marbled edges for 6 s. apiece. It relates to OCLC 771303020 and British Library ALMA 990004855480109251. A single copy is noted in the British Library upon Worldcat. So, a very scarce imprint. W. Smith, The Brontë Sisters, a Bibliographical Catalogue, (Los Angeles, Heritage Bookshop, 1991.) Note 2, p. 37, and p. 97, Note 1. (AJ and AMJ)
Ref: FICT19 9855
$650.00