The Letters of Charlotte Brontë With a Selection of Letters by Family and Friends, Volume II: 1848-1851

by Brontë, Charlotte; Smith, Margaret

• ISBN13: 9780198185987
• ISBN10: 0198185987
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-06-22
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

This is the second volume in the critically acclaimed Letters of Charlotte Bronte. During the important four years covered in this volume, Charlotte witnessed the success of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but also endured the deaths of Branwell Bronte and Emily, followed by Anne's in May 1849. Haunted by the fear that she also would succumb, Charlotte found salvation in writing Shirley, published in October 1849, and comfort in her friendship and correspondence with Ellen Nussey, with her publishers--especially George Smith--with Mrs. Gaskell, and (for a time) Harriet Martineau. She may also have received a proposal of marriage from Smith, Edler's manager, James Taylor. This volume is fully annotated and introduced by eminent Bronte scholar Margaret Smith.

Author Biography

Margaret Smith is Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Research in Arts and Social Sciences, University of Birmingham

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
Abbreviations and Symbols	ix
Introduction	xvii
The Manuscripts	xxxii
Textual Policy	xxxiv
A Chronology of Charlotte Bronte	xxxvii
Biographical Notes	xlii
THE LETTERS	1	(736)
January to December 1848	3	(160)
January to December 1849	163	(158)
January to December 1850	321	(218)
January to December 1851	539	(198)
Appendices	737	(22)
I. A Short Account of the Last Days of Dear A.B.	739	(3)
Ellen Nussey
II. Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell and Prefaces	742	(12)
Charlotte Bronte
III. Anne Thackeray Ritchie on Charlotte Bronte	754	(2)
IV. Letter to W.S. Williams, ?9 November 1849	756	(3)
Index	759