1858 Rare Early Edition - WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Ellis Bell; And Agnes Grey by Acton Bell; With a Preface and Memoir of both Authors by Currer Bell.
Author: BELL, Ellis. (Emily BRONTE). BELL, Acton. (Anne BRONTE). BELL, Currer (Charlotte BRONTE).
Title: WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Ellis Bell; And Agnes Grey by Acton Bell; With a Preface and Memoir of both Authors by Currer Bell.
Publisher : London: Smith, Elder & Co., 65 Cornhill, 1858. New Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size : 7 " X 4.5 ".
Pages: xix-446-(4) pages.
Binding: Attractive, scarce, and good original publisher's binding of light orange printed cloth with adverts to the rear cover (hinges fine, overall worn and scuffed - as shown, spine faded) under a protective removable mylar cover. A rare find in any condition!
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, some light foxing or staining - as shown, name of a previous owner on the first blank - as shown). Also found and Included in the book - a nice vintage postcard portrait of Emily Bronte - as shown.
Estimate: (USD 1500- USD 2000)
The book: Attractive and early edition of Wuthering Heights -- a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847 under her pseudonym "Ellis Bell". It is her only finished novel. Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of her sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited a posthumous second edition in 1850. Although Wuthering Heights is now a classic of English literature, contemporaneous reviews were deeply polarised; it was controversial because of its unusually stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty, and it challenged Victorian ideas about religion, morality, class and a woman's place in society.
Wuthering Heights was influenced by Romanticism including the novels of Walter Scott, gothic fiction, and Byron, and the moorland setting is significant.
The author: Emily Jane Brontë (30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte and Anne titled Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell with her own poems finding regard as poetic genius. Emily was the third-eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother Branwell. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell.