Rare Finds - A Guide to Rare Book Collecting

“It is a woman’s writing, but whose?” - (William Thackery on Jane Eyre)

The pseudonymous publication of Jane Eyre by “Currer Bell” sparked one of the great literary controversies of 1847. The novel proved an immediate and almost unprecedented success, selling out within three months while the public clamored for any information on the identity of its mysterious author.

Speculation was rampant in contemporary papers, with reviewers attributing the book to a man because of the quality and complexity of the prose. However, Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte’s literary hero and later an important member of her circle, wrote, “It is a fine book… I have been exceedingly moved & pleased by Jane Eyre. It is a woman’s writing, but whose?”

Bronte’s identity was revealed only after the work had gone through several editions and had been accepted as an English literary classic. View our current selection.