first edition
1848
by [Bronte, Charlotte]
1848. [in original cloth] Third Edition. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1848. 2 pp preliminary ads in Vol I; 8 pp ads (of this very edition) in Vol III. Original blind-stamped purple-grey cloth.
Third Edition, published less than six months after the first edition -- and constituting the last multi-volume edition of JANE EYRE, as the 1850 fourth edition would be the first one-volume edition. The story behind the publication of JANE EYRE is well-known... Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, having decided to try to get their verse published, had paid 30+ pounds in 1846 to have it published as POEMS by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell; exactly two copies sold in the first year. Undaunted, the three sisters decided each to write a novel, and to try to get them published. Charlotte, who was organizing all of this, wrote THE PROFESSOR; Emily wrote WUTHERING HEIGHTS, and Anne wrote AGNES GREY. The publisher, Thomas Cautley Newby, accepted Emily's and Anne's novels, and set out to publish them combined together in the usual three-decker format -- WUTHERING HEIGHTS in Vols I & II, AGNES GREY in Vol III; he rejected Charlotte's effort. So did publisher Smith, Elder, though with an encouraging letter that caused her immediately to try again -- with a different novel, which she titled JANE EYRE. Charlotte (and Smith, Elder) did this so quickly that JANE EYRE was the first of the three novels to be published -- in October 1847. Emily's and Anne's novels followed in December of that year -- just twelve months before Emily's death and seventeen months before Anne's. The first edition of JANE EYRE was a big success (despite some scathing criticism), and promptly went into a second edition that was published in January 1848 -- for which Charlotte wrote a Preface and dedicated the book to W.M. Thackeray, since the first edition had had neither. By now critics and the public were guessing that one person, presumably a man, had written all three of the "Bell" novels. Emily in particular was chagrined to see her WUTHERING HEIGHTS described, for example in the first US edition, as being "by the Author of Jane Eyre"; yet Emily also lived in fear that anyone (specifically her father!) should discover that she was the author of WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Thus when this third and final three-volume edition was published in April 1848, "Currer Bell" thought it necessary to add an additional "Note to the Third Edition" in which she asserts that JANE EYRE is that author's only work to date: "If... the authorship of other works of fiction has been attributed to me, an honour is awarded where it is not merited; and consequently, denied where it is justly due." All three of JANE EYRE's three-decker editions were bound in this same blind-stamped purple-grey cloth (which unfortunately is very thin cloth, prone to wear through at the joints). Also, all three editions were priced at 31 shillings and sixpence, the standard price for all Nineteenth Century three-deckers -- which was so expensive that most copies could be bought only by circulating libraries which then rented out each volume by the fortnight. This set has the preliminary ad leaf in Vol I, plus the terminal eight pages of ads in Vol III -- but no terminal ad catalogue in Vol I. Smith notes that some copies have a Vol I ad catalogue dated either May 1848, February 1849, or September 1849 -- and that "some copies may not have a catalogue in volume one." The condition of this set is remarkably bright and near-fine: there is less than usual of the fading that is typical for this color cloth, with the result that the spine gilt gleams. If we look hard, we can find minor flaws: some of the original endpapers have hairline cracks (almost always a problem with JANE EYRE), a couple of gatherings stand slightly proud, and Vol III has a few small droplet-marks on its rear cover. Yes, a first edition would be preferable -- but the only time (about a decade ago) we have sold a set, in original cloth in this condition, the price was over $125,000. For those collectors desirous of such condition but not desirous of such a cost, the present set of the third edition presents a fine opportunity. Smith pp 28-30; Parrish pp 90-91 (plus pp 99-155, a 56-page appendix presenting every single textual variation between JANE EYRE's first three editions). Housed in a handsome morocco-backed clamshell case. (Inventory #: 15747)
Third Edition, published less than six months after the first edition -- and constituting the last multi-volume edition of JANE EYRE, as the 1850 fourth edition would be the first one-volume edition. The story behind the publication of JANE EYRE is well-known... Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, having decided to try to get their verse published, had paid 30+ pounds in 1846 to have it published as POEMS by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell; exactly two copies sold in the first year. Undaunted, the three sisters decided each to write a novel, and to try to get them published. Charlotte, who was organizing all of this, wrote THE PROFESSOR; Emily wrote WUTHERING HEIGHTS, and Anne wrote AGNES GREY. The publisher, Thomas Cautley Newby, accepted Emily's and Anne's novels, and set out to publish them combined together in the usual three-decker format -- WUTHERING HEIGHTS in Vols I & II, AGNES GREY in Vol III; he rejected Charlotte's effort. So did publisher Smith, Elder, though with an encouraging letter that caused her immediately to try again -- with a different novel, which she titled JANE EYRE. Charlotte (and Smith, Elder) did this so quickly that JANE EYRE was the first of the three novels to be published -- in October 1847. Emily's and Anne's novels followed in December of that year -- just twelve months before Emily's death and seventeen months before Anne's. The first edition of JANE EYRE was a big success (despite some scathing criticism), and promptly went into a second edition that was published in January 1848 -- for which Charlotte wrote a Preface and dedicated the book to W.M. Thackeray, since the first edition had had neither. By now critics and the public were guessing that one person, presumably a man, had written all three of the "Bell" novels. Emily in particular was chagrined to see her WUTHERING HEIGHTS described, for example in the first US edition, as being "by the Author of Jane Eyre"; yet Emily also lived in fear that anyone (specifically her father!) should discover that she was the author of WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Thus when this third and final three-volume edition was published in April 1848, "Currer Bell" thought it necessary to add an additional "Note to the Third Edition" in which she asserts that JANE EYRE is that author's only work to date: "If... the authorship of other works of fiction has been attributed to me, an honour is awarded where it is not merited; and consequently, denied where it is justly due." All three of JANE EYRE's three-decker editions were bound in this same blind-stamped purple-grey cloth (which unfortunately is very thin cloth, prone to wear through at the joints). Also, all three editions were priced at 31 shillings and sixpence, the standard price for all Nineteenth Century three-deckers -- which was so expensive that most copies could be bought only by circulating libraries which then rented out each volume by the fortnight. This set has the preliminary ad leaf in Vol I, plus the terminal eight pages of ads in Vol III -- but no terminal ad catalogue in Vol I. Smith notes that some copies have a Vol I ad catalogue dated either May 1848, February 1849, or September 1849 -- and that "some copies may not have a catalogue in volume one." The condition of this set is remarkably bright and near-fine: there is less than usual of the fading that is typical for this color cloth, with the result that the spine gilt gleams. If we look hard, we can find minor flaws: some of the original endpapers have hairline cracks (almost always a problem with JANE EYRE), a couple of gatherings stand slightly proud, and Vol III has a few small droplet-marks on its rear cover. Yes, a first edition would be preferable -- but the only time (about a decade ago) we have sold a set, in original cloth in this condition, the price was over $125,000. For those collectors desirous of such condition but not desirous of such a cost, the present set of the third edition presents a fine opportunity. Smith pp 28-30; Parrish pp 90-91 (plus pp 99-155, a 56-page appendix presenting every single textual variation between JANE EYRE's first three editions). Housed in a handsome morocco-backed clamshell case. (Inventory #: 15747)
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