Lot 37: [BRONTË, CHARLOTTE.]

JANE EYRE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. BY CURRER BELL. SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 1848
8vo (194 x 121mm.), third edition, Ellen Nussey's copy, with advertisement leaf at the beginning of volume 1 and 8pp. advertisements at the end of volume 3, without the advertisements at the end of volume 1 which are sometimes present, lacking the "9" in pagination on p.279 of volume 1, Gothic letters "n" inverted in "An" and "h" instead of "b" on title page of volume 1 (all points listed by Smith), late nineteenth-century polished red calf gilt by Zaehnsdorf, original brown cloth spines bound in, spines in six compartments with morocco labels, top edges gilt, inner dentelles, red coated endpapers, spines sunned, some occasional spotting

Smith 2

according to the additional printed leaf bound in (signed by Ellen Nussey) at the beginning of each volume, this copy was presented by the author near the time of publication to her lifelong friend Ellen Nussey [However, considering the circumstances of its anonymous publication, and the author's closely guarded secret of her authorship, it may be that this copy was purchased separately by Ellen Nussey, probably on her visit to London in June 1848 (see Winifred Gérin, Charlotte Brontë. The Evolution of Genius,1967, pp.356 ff.)]; subsequently a gift of Ellen's (in May 1889) to Sir George John Armytage, 6th baronet of Kirklees (his bookplate in all volumes); thence by descent