CHARLOTTE BRONTË (1816-1855)
Reading edition
83. Jane Eyre. | An Autobiography. | Edited By | Currer Bell. | In Three Volumes. | Vol. I. | London: | Smith, Elder, And Co., Cornhill. | 1847.
Under date of August 24, 1847, Miss Brontë wrote a letter to Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., in which she said: "I now send you per rail a MS. entitled 'Jane Eyre,' a novel in three volumes, by Currer Bell." The novel was accepted, was printed and published by October sixteenth, and on the nineteenth the publishers received the following:
"Gentlemen,—The six copies of 'Jane Eyre' reached me this morning. You have given the work every advantage which good paper, clear type, and a seemly outside can supply;—if it fails, the fault will be with the author,—you are exempt. I now await the judgment of the press and the public. I am, Gentlemen, yours respectfully, C. Bell."
Their judgment was decisive, and the book was so great a success that a second edition, dedicated to Thackeray, was issued January 18, 1848.
Octavo.
Collation: Three volumes.