Jane Eyre: An Autobiography.

BELL, Currer. [Charlotte Brontë].

$2,500.00

Item Number: 149318

London: Smith, Elder, and Co, 1857.

First separate English edition and sixth edition overall of Charlotte Brontë’s revolutionary feminist romance. Small octavo, original publisher’s printed orange limp cloth. Parrish 96; Sadleir 347; Smith 7. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Very rare in the original cloth. A nice example.

After earlier manuscripts were rejected, Charlotte Brontë submitted Jane Eyre to Smith & Elder in 1847 under the pseudonym "Currer Bell." The firm "recognized its great power. It was immediately accepted and published in [October] 1847" (DNB). The novel quickly achieved success, with Brontë praised for her ability to "combine extraordinary power of expressing passion with an equally surprising power of giving reality to her pictures which transfigures the commonest scenes and events in the light of genius" (DNB). The second edition, dedicated to Thackeray, was published in January 1848. Early critics were "somewhat lacking in cordiality," but Mr. Bell believed, "quite accurately, that 'a brisk sale would be effectual support under the hauteur of lofty critics'" (Winterich, 23 Books and the Stories Behind Them, 62). The dedication to Thackeray proved to be controversial, given his wife’s insanity, leading to rumors that Jane Eyre was inspired by his personal situation: "an absurd story to the effect that Miss Brontë was represented by Becky Sharp and Thackeray by Mr. Rochester became current" (DNB).