Books

First edition. 3 vols. 8vos. Vol. 1: Pp. [ii], 324, [12, ads]. Vol. 2: [iv], 319, [1]. Vol. 3: [iv], 350, [1]. Recent, polished, olive-green half calf, over marbled boards, with gilt titles and raised bands to spines. No half-titles called for. With the publisher's 12 page catalogue to rear of vol. 1 in its earliest state dated January, 1853. Neatly recased with new endpapers, pp.71/2 of vol. 1 holed to lower margin (barely touching last line), a few marginal tears throughout, none affecting text, double-ruled, high-lighting of a title in publisher's catalogue, some foxing and flecking in places. A good plus, tight starter set. The author's third novel, a semi-autobiographical account of her time spent at finishing school in Brussels, and subsequently as a governess, saddled with the burden of unrequited love. An acute psychological study of loneliness and isolation, it was acclaimed by George Eliot as "a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre," and by Virginia Woolf as "Bront�'s finest novel." The two love interests are partially modelled on M. Constantin H�ger - the boarding school's proprietor - and George Murray Smith, Bront�'s publisher and one-time suitor. [Parrish 95; Sadleir 349; Smith 6; Wolff 828.] 1525.

Villette is a novel by Charlotte Brontë, published in 1853. Drawing from Brontë's own experiences, the novel follows Lucy Snowe as she leaves England to teach at a girl's school in the fictional town of Villette, Belgium.