The Professor (1857, Smith, Elder & Co.)/Volume 1/Adverts
Mrs. Caskell's Memoirs of Currer Bell.
THE SECOND EDITION OF
THE LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË,
AUTHOR OF
By Mrs. GASKELL,
AUTHOR OF
"MARY BARTON," "RUTH," "NORTH AND SOUTH."
"It is rarely that we find a portrait of literary character with such a remarkable setting, and as rare to find an author whose works are so popular, so vivid, and distinctive, and whose personal history was so utterly unknown. A sister authoress, gifted herself with superior powers, has described with true woman's sympathy and eagerness the whole course of the life which is now closed for ever. We regard the record as a monument of courage and endurance, of suffering and triumph. . . . . All the secrets of the literary workmanship of the authoress of 'Jane Eyre' are unfolded in the course of this extraordinary narrative."—Times.
"Mrs. Gaskell has done her work well. Her narrative is simple, direct, intelligible, unaffected. She dwells on her friend's character with womanly tact, thorough understanding, and delicate sisterly tenderness. The extracts from the letters are excellently selected, and they are remarkable letters—as the letters of the most remarkable woman of the age could not fail to be. Many parts of the book cannot be read without deep, even painful emotion; still it is a life always womanly."—Fraser's Magazine.
"The story of a woman's life, unfolded in this book, is calculated to make the old feel young and the young old. . . . By all this book will be read with interest. . . . . Mrs. Gaskell has produced one of the best biographies of a woman by a woman which we can recall to mind."—Athenæum.
"Thoroughly well and artistically has the work been accomplished; an informing method presides over the whole; there is no feebleness or redundancy; every circumstance has a direct bearing on the main object of painting, vigorously and accurately, a real picture of the woman as she was."—Daily News.
"The profound pathos, the tragic interest of this book, lies in the terrible struggle that life was to a woman endowed with Charlotte Bronte's conscientiousness, affection for her family, and literary ambition, and continually curbed and thrown back by physical wretchedness. Its moral is, the unconquerable strength of genius and goodness."—Spectator.
"Mrs. Gaskell's 'Life of Charlotte Brontë' has placed her on a level with the best biographers of any country. It is a truthful and beautiful work. . . . . No one can read it without feeling strengthened and purified."—Globe.
"If any one wishes to see how a woman possessed of the highest intellectual power can disregard every temptation which intellect throws in the way of women—how generously and nobly a human being can live under the pressure of accumulated misfortunes—the record is at hand in the life of Charlotte Brontë."—Saturday Review.
"We have before us the life of a truly great and noble woman, written by one who has sufficient moral sympathy to understand her character, and sufficient intellectual insight to appreciate her genius. Such a work cannot fail to be of the deepest interest; and it has a special interest for female readers."—Economist.
"These volumes supply ample information respecting the author of 'Jane Eyre.' The life itself possesses a tearful interest, that deepens as it advances towards its close: it is singularly touching, and sinks into the heart of the reader."—Literary Gazette.
"We can be sincere in the praise of this book, and have been often touched by the tone of loving sympathy in which it is written."—Examiner.
"The whole strange and pathetic story of the Brontë family is faithfully told in Mrs. Gaskell's memoir. She does her friend Charlotte Brontë full justice.—Critic.
LONDON: SMITH, ELDER & Co., 65, CORNHILL.