Currer Bell (Charlotte Brontë) - Villette - 1857

A very RARE and uncommon edition of Charlotte Bronte's "Villette" printed by Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1857, new edition. Following the withdrawal of the two-volume second edition for fear of libel in 1857, the work was first issued as a single volume later in the same year.
Charlotte Brontë (1816 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels have become classics of English literature. She first published her works (including her best known novel, Jane Eyre) under the pen name Currer Bell. Brontë's third novel, the last published in her lifetime, was "Villette", which was first published in 1853. Villette was acknowledged by critics of the day as a potent and sophisticated piece of writing although it was criticized for "coarseness" and for not being suitably "feminine" in its portrayal of Lucy's desires.
Book in acceptable/fair condition, original yellow printed cloth, covers rubbed and patchily faded, spine dulled, rubbed and frayed-see photos.Inside light stains but overall clean, binding a little shaky but all pages attached.
Scarce.