LOVELY EARLY TAUCHNITZ EDITION OF THE NOVELS OF THE BRONTE SISTERS, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND BY ZAEHNSDORF

BRONTE, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Collection of British Authors. Tauchnitz Edition. Vol. 145 (146, 180, 181, 201, 202, 266, 267, 404). Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1849-57 [but actually circa 1860-80]. Nine volumes. 12mo, late 19th-century half tan calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt. $5000.

Early Continental "Tauchnitz" editions of the novels of the Brontë sisters, printed under the Brontës' pseudonyms of Currier, Ellis, and Acton Bell as part of the German publisher's "Collection of British Authors" series, handsomely bound in calf-gilt by Zaehnsdorf.

"They had neither wealth nor power… what they did have was the vicarious experience of books and an irrepressible creativity… More than anything else, however, they had each other… Without this intense family relationship, some of the greatest novels in the English language would never have been written" (Barker, 830). "The Tauchnitz firm, which was located in Leipzig, Germany, included in its major publications works by contemporary English writers which were printed in English and offered for sale outside of England and its Colonies… Since the firm retained the original imprint date of an edition through all subsequent impressions, it is difficult to identify and classify variants, and many may exist that have not been recorded in any reference work" (Smith, 51). Given the setting of the half titles, title pages and the dropping of the "Jun." from Tauchnitz's name in the earlier imprints, these editions are certainly post-1860 reprints, and not first Continental editions.

Shirley (two volumes, "1849") is a post-1860 impression of the Continental edition, with three titles on the verso of the half title, including The Professor, first published by Tauchnitz in 1857; Jane Eyre (two volumes, "1850") is a post-1860 impression, with the serial numbers on the half titles in Arabic numerals and three titles on the verso of the Volume I half title, including The Professor; Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey (two volumes, "1851") is a is a post-1860 impression of the second Continental edition, with the serial numbers on the half titles in Arabic numerals and "JUN." dropped from Tauchnitz's name in the imprint; Villette (two volumes, "1853") is a post-1860 impression, with three titles on the verso of the half title, including The Professor; The Professor (one volume, "1857") is is a post-1860 impression, with three titles on the verso of the half title. CBEL III: 461-2. Bookplates; "Hill Hall Theydon Mount" in gilt lettering on front covers—an Elizabethan mansion near Essex now owned by English Heritage.

Interiors clean, corners gently rubbed. A beautifully bound set in excellent condition.