Lot 20: [BRONTË, CHARLOTTE.]

[BRONTË, CHARLOTTE.] JANE EYRE. AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. EDITED BY CURRER BELL. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 1847 8vo (198 x 121mm.), first edition, 3 volumes, publisher's 32pp. catalogue dated June 1847 and one leaf advertising The Calcutta Review at the end of volume 1, original dark greyish reddish brown vertically-ribbed cloth, covers decorated in blind with triple line border enclosing decorative trellis-like border, pale yellow endpapers, preserved in blue cloth case and quarter blue morocco slipcase, recased, expert restoration and repairs to the spine ends, joints and hinges

Smith 2; Sadleir 346; Ashley I, p.72; Wolff 826; Tinker 379; Grolier English 83; Parrish pp.87-8

? "Mrs Elseley... York", pencil inscriptions on upper paste-downs; Morris H. Parrish, bookplates (with later library annotation in pencil, "withdrawn | 28 January 1959"); Barton Currie, morocco book-label in cloth case

The American collector Morris H. Parrish assembled one of the finest libraries of Victorian literature anywhere in the world between the First World War and his death in 1944, with a particular focus on original condition and acquiring both English and American first editions. The bulk of the collection, containing over 6,500 volumes and 1,250 manuscripts, and formerly housed in his residence Dormy House in Pine Valley, New Jersey, was bequeathed to Princeton University Library. Another copy of Jane Eyre is recorded in Princeton's holdings, so the present copy is presumably a duplicate deaccessioned in or around 1959.

A near fine copy in the original cloth of the author's powerful and enduring novel, the inspiration behind countless further novels, literary and stage works since and the basis for many film adaptations and reinterpretations, by classic directors such as Orson Welles, Franco Zefferelli and Jane Campion.