David Brass Rare Books, Inc

Bront‰, Charlotte BELL, Currer Jane Eyre: An Autobiography 1848

First Continental EditionThe King of Hanover's Copy[BRONTÓ, Charlotte]. Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. Edited by Currer Bell. Copyright Edition for Continental Circulation. In Two Volumes. Leipzig: Bernh. Tauchnitz Jun., 1848.First Continental Edition, first issue with all points noted by Smith. Two small octavo volumes (6 x 4 1/4 in; 153 x 108 mm). x, 342; (4), 340 pp. Contemporary dark green horizontally-ribbed cloth, front covers stamped in gilt with the royal arms of Great Britain (United Kingdom) and Hanover. From the library of the Royal House of Hanover at Marienberg, Germany. Minimal rubbing to extremities. The bare minimum of foxing to first and last few leaves, otherwise a very fine copy, in a contemporary royal cloth binding. Housed in a modern black cloth slipcase.Published March 28, 1848 with the preface to the second London edition (January 1848), this copy of the first issue of the Tauchnitz first edition and first edition to be published on the Continent bears the red circular library stamp of Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover on the verso of both title pages. From its publication, the novel s exceptional emotional and narrative power made it a success, though, its despite its strict adherence to conventional moral standards, it was considered by many to be unsuitable for young ladies Additional scandal attended the publication of the second edition, which Charlotte dedicated to Thackeray, unaware that he too has a wife certified as insane (The Oxford Companion to English Literature).Ernest Augustus (1771-1851) was the fifth son of George III and Queen Charlotte of England. Created Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale in 1779, he did not get along with his brother, the Prince of Wales (later George IV), and was not popular with the British public. Thus, after his marriage to his twice-widowed cousin, Friederike, in 1815, he lived in voluntary exile, primarily in Berlin. Upon the death of his brother, William IV, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, the united British and Hanoverian thrones separated with William's niece, Victoria, ascending to the throne of Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland, and her Uncle Ernest assuming the crown of Hanover under the Salic law of succession, which Hanover subscribed to but Britain did not.Smith, The Bronte Sisters. A Bibliographical Catalogue, pp. 49-53. Todd and Bowden, Tauchnitz International Editions in English 1841-1955. A Bibliographic History, 145A, 146A.

$US12500

This item is listed on Bibliopoly by David Brass Rare Books, Inc; click here for further details.