first edition
1846
by [Bronte, Charlotte, Emily & Anne]
1846. [the Brontes' first book] By Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1846. Original blind-stamped olive green cloth.
First Edition, second (and usual) issue. This first book by any of the Brontë sisters was published by Aylott & Jones in May 1846 -- with the 31 10s cost (two years' wages for a governess) paid by the sisters themselves, thanks to a legacy left by their Aunt Branwell. The edition consisted of 1000 copies: only two copies sold that year, and by mid-1848 (two years later!), only 39 had been distributed -- mostly as gifts. At that time Smith Elder, publisher of Charlotte's very successful JANE EYRE that year, bought the 961 remaining mostly unbound copies, and equipped them with (1846-dated) Smith Elder title pages -- hoping to capitalize on Charlotte's sudden fame. However, even then POEMS sold poorly, with no more than about fifty copies a year being sold. In 1857, anticipating big sales due to the publicity of Mrs. Gaskell's LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË, Smith Elder bound up most of the remaining ones, but the 1000 initial copies were not fully exhausted until 1860. Since Smith Elder bound and issued copies over a span of twelve years, there are many minor variations in binding and in collation of non-textual leaves. This copy is in the usual SE&Co binding (with a harp design surrounded by a floral border); it does have the Contents leaf (though inserted backwards); it has no errata slip; it does have the ad leaf advertising each sister's novel (but at the rear -- it is more typically seen facing the title page); it does not have an additional SE&Co ad catalogue; and it does have the "Westley's & Co." binder's ticket on the rear endpaper. (Each of these items appears in some but not all copies.) It is in very good-plus condition, perhaps near-fine -- with very light wear at the corners of the spine, and with a few faint droplet-marks on each cover. The original pale-yellow endpapers are present, clean and intact. The rare first issue by Aylott & Jones, when obtainable, is priced well into five figures, and now even these Smith Elder copies have become uncommon. Smith pp 6-14. Housed in a handsome cloth clamshell case with leather label. Provenance: armorial bookplate of Gerard T[homas]. Noel (1782-1851): second son of a baronet and of a baroness in her own right, he became a Church of England cleric, known as a writer of hymns; his death in February 1851 presumably provides an end-date for when this copy was bound up. (Inventory #: 15746)
First Edition, second (and usual) issue. This first book by any of the Brontë sisters was published by Aylott & Jones in May 1846 -- with the 31 10s cost (two years' wages for a governess) paid by the sisters themselves, thanks to a legacy left by their Aunt Branwell. The edition consisted of 1000 copies: only two copies sold that year, and by mid-1848 (two years later!), only 39 had been distributed -- mostly as gifts. At that time Smith Elder, publisher of Charlotte's very successful JANE EYRE that year, bought the 961 remaining mostly unbound copies, and equipped them with (1846-dated) Smith Elder title pages -- hoping to capitalize on Charlotte's sudden fame. However, even then POEMS sold poorly, with no more than about fifty copies a year being sold. In 1857, anticipating big sales due to the publicity of Mrs. Gaskell's LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË, Smith Elder bound up most of the remaining ones, but the 1000 initial copies were not fully exhausted until 1860. Since Smith Elder bound and issued copies over a span of twelve years, there are many minor variations in binding and in collation of non-textual leaves. This copy is in the usual SE&Co binding (with a harp design surrounded by a floral border); it does have the Contents leaf (though inserted backwards); it has no errata slip; it does have the ad leaf advertising each sister's novel (but at the rear -- it is more typically seen facing the title page); it does not have an additional SE&Co ad catalogue; and it does have the "Westley's & Co." binder's ticket on the rear endpaper. (Each of these items appears in some but not all copies.) It is in very good-plus condition, perhaps near-fine -- with very light wear at the corners of the spine, and with a few faint droplet-marks on each cover. The original pale-yellow endpapers are present, clean and intact. The rare first issue by Aylott & Jones, when obtainable, is priced well into five figures, and now even these Smith Elder copies have become uncommon. Smith pp 6-14. Housed in a handsome cloth clamshell case with leather label. Provenance: armorial bookplate of Gerard T[homas]. Noel (1782-1851): second son of a baronet and of a baroness in her own right, he became a Church of England cleric, known as a writer of hymns; his death in February 1851 presumably provides an end-date for when this copy was bound up. (Inventory #: 15746)
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