The Brontë Pseudonyms: A Woman's Image — The Writer and Her Public The Brontë Pseudonyms: A Woman's Image — The Writer and Her Public Marianne Thormahlen, University of Lund, Sweden This essay, which was originally published in English Studies (1994) as 'The Bronte Pseudonyms', appears in the Victorian Web with the kind permission of the author and the English Studies publishers Swets & Zeitlinger, who retain copyright. Notes to this WWW edition Numbers in brackets indicate page breaks in the print edition and thus allow users of VW to cite or locate the original page numbers. Text links take you to material not in the original print version. [GPL]. Adrian Kang, Chew Yong Jack, and GPL created the HTML version, converting footnotes. GPL also linked the text to other portions of the Victorian Web. Clicking on superscript numbers brings you to the top of the left column; hitting the back button on your browser returns you to your place in the body of the main text. Notes 1. Emily Brontë: A Biography (Oxford, 1971), pp. 185-6.

On Charlotte and Miss Currer, see also Gérin's Charlotte Bronte: The Evolution of Genius (Oxford, 1967), p. 309, and F.B. Pinion, A Brontë Companion: Literary Assessment, Background, and Reference (London, 1975), p. 278. The first person (as far as I am aware) to suggest that Charlotte may have borrowed her pseudonym from Miss Currer was 'the Hon. Lady Wilson of Eshton Hall' in the 'The Brontës as Governesses', Brontë Society Transactions 9 (1939), 217-18. See also Clifford Whone's report on The Keighley Mechanics' Institute, 'Where the Brontës Borrowed Books', Brontë Society Transactions 11 (1950), 345. (Whone noted the occurrence of Miss Currer's name among Institute members but did not outline any other relevant points in support of the connexion.) 2.

Adopting a surname as a first name was of course a convenient way of concealing a person's sex; after all, the choice of 'proper' Christian names that could have been used by men and women alike was severely limited. Charlotte's Shirley was given this 'masculine cognomen' in default of heirs male, pioneering it as a first name for women; see E.G. Withycombe, The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (Oxford, 1945), p. 118. 3. On phrenology in Charlotte's novels, see Wilfred M. Senseman's 'Charlotte Brontë's Use of Physiognomy and Phrenology', Brontë Society Transactions 12 (1967), 286-89, a recapitulation and part-reproduction of an article in Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, 38 (1953), and Ian Jack, 'Physiognomy, Phrenology and Characterisation in the Novels of Charlotte Brontë', Brontë Society Transactions 15 (1970), 377-91.

For Anne's use of phrenology, see my 'The Villain of Wildfell Hall: Aspects and Prospects of Arthur Huntingdon' The Modern Language Review 88.4 (October 1993), 834-6. 4. Subtitled A Study of the Bronte Sisters as Early-Victorian Female Novelists, it appeared in 1966 (Gothenburg and London). Another well-researched and informative dissertation, on an adjacent subject, by a Swedish Brontë scholar appeared eight years later, Harriet Björk's The Language of Truth: Charlotte Bronte, the Woman Question, and the Novel, No. 47 in Lund Studies in English (Lund, 1974). 5. See Frank, A Chainless Soul, p. 216, and Chitham, Emily Brontë, p. 198.

(Clifford Whone did suggest that the name of another Keighley Mechanics' Institute member, one William Ellis, Esq., might have supplied Emily's pseudonym, but the absence of any further links detracts from the likelihood of this idea; see 'Where the Brontës Borrowed Books', 345.) 6. Cf. Margot Peters's account of Arthur Bell Nicholls's (successful) attempt at vindicating Ireland, and his own Irish family, in the prejudiced Charlotte's eyes; Unquiet Soul: A Biography of Charlotte Bronte (London, 1975), p. 396. — This is not to say that that ancestry was unimportant to the Brontës' personalities and their artistry; see, for instance, Edward Chitham, The Brontës' Irish Background (London, 1986). (There are also many references to the Celtic origins of the Rev. Patrick Bronte in Chitham's biographies of Emily and Anne [the latter of which, A Life of Anne Brontë, was published by Blackwells in 1991].) 7.

The Women of England, Their Social Duties, and Domestic Habits, 3rd ed. (1839), p. 343 (from the chapter on 'Modern Education'). According to Rebecca Fraser, Mrs Ellis evinced something of a change of heart in respect of female education under the pressures of the 1840s (see Fraser's Charlotte Brontë, London, 1988, p. 147); 1 have failed to detect such a modification in her views. 8. A Quaker and a supporter of women's rights, she was a friend of Mrs Gaskell 's. Her husband William reviewed Shirley in favourable terms; see Miriam Allott (ed.), The Brontës: The Critical Heritage (London, 1974), pp. 133-5. Shortly afterwards, Mrs Gaskell wrote her initial letter to Charlotte. Incidentally, Mrs Howitt translated the works of the Swedish domestic novelist Fredrika Bremer, whose work was known to the Brontës; for instance, Charlotte refers to Anne's reading one of her tales in the last few months of her life (see, for example, Chitham's biography of Anne, p.

181; on Bremer and Charlotte Brontë, see Björk's dissertation, especially pp. 83-5). The reason why such details seem noteworthy to me is that they suggest that 'networks' among women operated in the nineteenth century no less than in our time, a point that might prove relevant to Brontë studies. 9. He had discouraged Charlotte from making literature her sole career on the basis of poems she had sent to him, but this did not prevent her from taking a pathetic pride in the fact that he had seen some merit in them (cf, Torn Winnifrith, A New Life of Charlotte Brontë, London, 1988, pp. 62-3). Viewed against the background of contemporary circumstances, Southey's letter to her 'klingt ... sogar vernünftig', as Elsemarie Maletzke has observed; see her Das Leben der Brontës: Eine Biographie (Frankfurt, 1988; I have used the Fischer pocket edition of 1992, where the relevant passage occurs on p. 148). 10.

It is hard to apply the term 'great' to Bell after having read the grim verdict on his personal qualities in Meiklejohn's book (especially p. 120); but he was by any reckoning phenomenally successful in a worldly sense, and he had a number of faithful friends and correspondents, members of the Gaskell family among them (see New Letters of Robert Southey, ed. Kenneth Curry, New York and London, 1965, Vol. II, p. 403, It might, incidentally, soothe the indignation of those who find Southey's patronising attitude to women as displayed in his letters to Charlotte too unbearable to allow for any charity in his direction to contemplate his shock and disgust at the brutal manifestations of sexual double standards [p. 48 in Vol. I]. They led to the comparatively forward-looking statement, 'Nothing is more astonishing to me than that a virtue so rigidly demanded from woman should be so despised among men'.) Bibliographical materials on Bell See the entry on Bell in Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. IV, pp. 149-152. Further information on Bell was provided by J.M.D.

Meiklejohn's An Old Educational Reformer: Dr. Andrew Bell (Edinburgh and London, 1881). Another circumstance favouring the idea of a Bell-Brontë connexion is Bell's preparing the way for the Mechanics' Institutes; see J.W. Hudson, The History of Adult Education (London, 1851), pp. 1-25. References Bentley, Phyllis. The Brontës. London: 1947. Chadwick, Mrs Ellis [sic] H. In the Footsteps of the Brontës London, 1914. Chitham, Edward. A Life of Emily Brontë. Oxford: 1987. Dibdin, Thomas Frognall. Reminiscences of a Literary Life; with Anecdotes of Books, and of Book Collectors. London, 1836. Dictionary of National Biography Edgeworth, Maria. Tales and Novels. London: 1857. Ellis, Sarah. Family Secrets, or Hints to Those Who Would Make Home Happy. London, 1841. _____. The Home Life and Letters of Mrs.

Ellis, Compiled by Her Nieces. London: 1893. _____. Pictures of Private Life, 2nd ed. London, 1833. _____. The Daughters of England. London, 1842. _____. The Mothers of England: Their Influence & Responsibility London, 1843. Frank, Katherine. A Chainless Soul: A Life of Emily Brontë. Boston: 1990. Gates, Barbara Timm (ed.). Critical Essays on Charlotte Brontë. Boston: 1990. Hopkins, Annette B. The Father of the Brontës. Baltimore: 1958. Levine, Richard A. (ed.). Backgrounds to Victorian Literature. San Francisco: 1967. Peters, Margot. "Unquiet Soul." Brontë Society Transactions 72 (1962), 20-22. Pykett, Lyn. Emily Brontë. "Macmillan Women Writers series." London: Macmillan, 1989. Ray, Elizabeth. The Best of Eliza Acton. London: 1968.

Sale, William M. Jr (ed.). Wuthering Heights. New York: Norton, 1972. Stickney, Sarah. See Ellis above. Thormahlen, Marianne. 'The Villain of Wildfell Hall: Aspects and Prospects of Arthur Huntingdon.' The Modern Language Review 88.4 (October 1993), 834-36. Winnifrith, Tom. The Brontës and Their Background: Romance and Reality. London: 1973. Withycombe, E.G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names. Oxford, 1945. Young, G.M. (ed.). Early Victorian Britain 1830-1865. London: 1934. In 1850, Charlotte Brontë's 'Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell' put a stop to all speculation on the sex of the 'Bells'.

The wording of the passage where she outlined the adoption of their noms de guerre is remarkable for reasons which still have not been fully appreciated: Averse to personal publicity, we veiled our own names under those of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell; the ambiguous choice being dictated by a sort of conscientious scruple at assuming Christian names positively masculine, while we did not like to declare ourselves women, because — without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called 'feminine' — we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice . . . [quoted from the Norton edition of Wuthering Heights, p. 4] Scores of Brontë critics have paraphrased the quoted lines in terms such as 'The sisters chose the neutral pen-names of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, not wishing to expose themselves to the prejudice or the condescension then often displayed by critics towards women writers, but scrupling to take names positively masculine' (Bentley, p. 37).

A recent biographer of Emily Brontë maintains that 'cloaked' would have been a more accurate word than 'veiled', 'for the names, though not blatantly masculine, certainly wouldn't be taken as women's' (Frank, p. 15). Charlotte's expressions 'veiled', 'ambiguous choice', and 'conscientious scruple' might have invited more curiosity about the 'Christian names' than they have done. With the exception of Winifred Gérin, Brontë scholars have not displayed much interest in the actual fabric of the 'veil'. Why 'Currer', 'Ellis', and 'Acton'? And what considerations could have prompted the choice of 'Bell'? The following passage from Gérin's book on Emily Brontë summarises the substance of previous enquiry concerning the origins of the Brontë pseudonyms: How they came by their names they never revealed, but there are some strong indications. The name Bell may have been chosen by the arrival that summer of their father's new curate, Arthur Bell Nichols.

While a governess at the Sidgwicks, Charlotte had certainly heard much of their neighbour, Miss Frances Mary Richardson Currer, of Eshton Hall, Skipton, whose property touched Stonegappe, and whose library was famous throughout the north. She was one of the founder patrons of the Clergy Daughters' School, so that her name must have been doubly familiar to Charlotte. The poetess Eliza Acton (1777-1859) [the Dictionary of National Biography gives Acton's birth year as 1799], who had considerable success in her day and was patronized [246/247] by royalty, may have suggested Anne's pseudonym to her. There appears to be no clue to the origin of Emily's choice of name, Ellis. 1 Guérin disposes of any doubt in respect of Charlotte: she must have derived her unusual 'first' name from Frances Mary Richardson Currer, the illustrious scholar of Eshton Hall. For reasons stated below (and not addressed by Gérin), I find the connexion between Anne and Eliza Acton plausible, too.

But if Charlotte and Anne acquired their 'Christian names' from the surnames 2 of two contemporary women who had made their mark in the realm of books and writing, Emily is likely to have done the same. After some additional observations respecting 'Currer' and 'Acton', the greater part of the following discussion deals with a putative source for 'Ellis', ending with a consideration of the 'Bell' issue. (The 'Bell' explanation offered by Gérin has been stated as a certainty by several other Brontë scholars.) The argumentation is based on a conviction that the Brontës, never given to haphazardness and speedily maturing as artists, will have invested a good deal of thought in the selection of their pen-names. Typically, Charlotte speaks of a 'choice . . . dictated by . . . scruple'. * * * * * It is not impossible that Charlotte herself had access to Miss Currer's books at some point. An avid reader from childhood, the latter had inherited a fine library, kept adding to it, and ensured that her books were expertly catalogued. (See Dictionary of National Biography, XIII, 340). The second catalogue, compiled by C.J.

Stewart, was privately printed (100 copies) in 1833 and is a treasure-trove for anyone interested in the reading habits of the educated pre- and early-Victorian upper class. While Miss Currer's collection featured many respectable works of natural science, she was sufficiently interested in the pseudo-scientific fashions of her day to acquire a copy of the Physiognomical System of Drs Gall and Spurzheim. The doctors were pioneers of phrenology , a school of thought whose influence on Charlotte [247/248] and Anne is patent in their novels. 3 Another of the interests that Miss Currer shared with the Brontës was mental improvement, and she owned educational works by like-minded women such as Mrs Hester Chapone and Maria Edgeworth. The fact that F.M.R. Currer supported the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge suggests that she was one of those 'wealthy and benevolent individuals in the county' (Jane Eyre's description of the subscribers to a new and improved Lowood Institute (opening of Chapter 10).

Charlotte is not likely to have blamed a founder patron for subsequent misfortunes at the institution.) whose munificence ensured the survival of charitable institutions. Her character (she was 'extremely accomplished and amiable', according to the DNB biographer) seems to have been as irreproachable as her scholarship; in 1836, the Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin placed her 'at THE HEAD of all female Collectors in Europe', calling her 'a sort of modern CHRISTINA of the North' (p. 949). Despite these exalted attainments, Miss Currer favoured practical usefulness in her selection of books, and a similar streak can be observed in the personality of the woman whose surname is likely to have provided Anne with her first nom de plume. The links between the youngest Brontë and Miss Eliza Acton are much more tenuous than the Charlotte-Currer ones, but there are indications that support the idea of a connexion. The poems contained in Eliza Acton's one volume of verse often resemble Anne's both with regard to metre and subject matter.

Acton obviously suffered a disappointment in love (according to the DNB entry, she was at one time engaged to an officer in the French army), and several poems hint darkly at a loved one who proved unworthy, even criminal. Many of the lyrics express a hope for peace in the grave. Some poems imply a certain amount of romantic idealism in the young poetess (still in her twenties), among them 'A Sketch' where she accuses the English of pettiness to the vanquished Napoleon. Eliza Acton was certainly well known in her time; but her greatest claim to lasting fame did not reside in this twice-printed collection of poems which she published (by subscription, 1,000 copies in all) in 1826 and 1827. (See Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 1, 66-67). Nor were her fugitive verses on Queens Adelaide and Victoria destined to make her remembered a good hundred years after her death. Her greatest success in the realm of writing came in 1845, towards the end of which the three Brontë sisters conceived the plan of publishing a selection of their poems.

Before that year was [248/249] out, Miss Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families had already gone into three editions. Another two were called for in 1846, and new editions kept appearing in subsequent years. Tradition has it that this immensely and immediately successful work was the result of the no longer youthful poetess's asking her publisher, Mr Longman, to name the subject of a book 'for which the world has a need' (as it was clear that there was no demand for poetry, at least not for hers). Longman allegedly replied that he wanted 'a really good cookery book', and Miss Acton fell to work with characteristic conscientiousness. (The anecdote has been retold several times; see, for instance, Mrs C. S. Peel's essay on 'Homes and Habits' in Young, I, 125-6.) She devoted several years to the completion of a magnificent and beautifully written book, to which no less an authority than Elizabeth David paid the ultimate accolade in calling it 'the greatest cookery book in our language'.

(Page xxvii in her Introduction to The Best of Eliza Acton, Recipes from her classic Modern Cookery for Private Families, selected and edited by Elizabeth Ray) One notable feature in Acton's Modern Cookery is its emphasis on bread-making, an art which Emily Brontë apparently commanded to perfection (see, for instance, Chitham, pp. 159 and 170). The combination of poetry and domesticity in the person and work of Eliza Acton increases the probability of her surname having been chosen as a 'veil' by one of the Brontë sisters. Household chores made up a very considerable portion of their daily lives, especially Emily's — one chapter in Chitham's biography is aptly entitled 'Domestic Chores Lightened by Fancy' — and they took pride in performing them impeccably. The roles of the Brontës as women novelists, viewed against the background of the situation of women in their time, is the subject of one of the finest Brontë monographs, Inga-Stina Ewbank's Their Proper Sphere.

4 Ewbank proceeded from the demonstrable fact that women were held to occupy a 'sphere "distinct and separate" from man's' (p. vii in her Preface), the words 'distinct and separate' being a direct quotation from Mrs Sarah Ellis's The Daughters of England (1842). Later in the book, Ewbank shows that the Brontës — unlike Mrs Ellis and other women writers of domestic novels — broke the confinement of the woman novelist to 'woman's proper sphere', arguing that they were particularly 'a-typical' in this respect, as Jane Austen had been before them (Their Proper Sphere, p. 41). It takes some nerve to suggest that Sarah Ellis, author of 'manuals on womanhood' and didactic fiction, might have supplied the first name of the 'Bell' whose 'sphere' was farther removed from the question of the moral worth of women than that of any of her sisters (or, for that matter, of any other English woman novelist). On the face of it, the idea seems not only absurd but downright [249/250] insulting to the lone-Titan, law-unto-herself Emily Brontë.

Even the recent critics and biographers, such as Lyn Pykett, who have modified that traditional conception of Emily, considering her work in relation to contemporary domestic fiction by women and generally 'humanising' her for us, would probably find it at least incongruous. Insofar as Brontë scholars have mentioned Mrs Sarah Ellis, née Stickney, at all, they have referred to her in terms such as 'that indefatigable writer of conduct books for Victorian girls' without pausing to consider the implications of her surname; see Sandra M. Gilbert in Gates, p. 161. The only rationale of 'Ellis' that I have seen relates Emily's scruple-dictated choice to her Irish grandmother's first name. 5 However, most sources give the latter's Christian name as 'Alice' or 'Elinor' (the latter with variant spellings); see, for instance, Hopkins, p. 134n10, and also Withycombe, p. 45. Although the suggestion remains a possibility, it does not seem very likely to me — certainly not if one accepts the idea that Charlotte and Anne chose the surnames of remarkable contemporary women intellectuals.

The Brontë children never knew their father's mother, Mrs Brunty/O'Prunty, née McClory, and none of the sisters is on record as having shown much interest, let alone pride, in their Irish ancestry. 6 None of this, however, can strengthen the case for Mrs Ellis in the eyes of those to whom she was an apostle of 'namby-pambyism' (Knickerbocker is one of them; see his essay on Victorian education in Levine, pp. 146-47). But is this conception a fair one, and — more to the point — is that the way she would have appeared to the Brontë sisters? Most of those writers on the Brontës who refer to Mrs Ellis's works do so in 'quoted-in' references, which suggests that they have not in fact studied her writings. A couple of days in a well-assorted research library yield rather a different picture of them, and her, from the now-conventional one. The Daughters of England, for instance, extols ingenuity and regrets that imitation rather than invention is predominant in the teaching of needlework etc. (p.

80); it also urges women as well as men to acquire 'a general knowledge of the political and social state of the country in which we live, and indeed of all countries' (p. 110). Not to possess any knowledge of, and sentiments regarding, [250/251] various social issues such as slavery, temperance, and cruelty to animals is 'disgraceful' in a woman, however 'accomplished and amiable' (those standard nineteenth-century virtues) she might be (p. 112). A love of truth is urged on young women as being the capacity that will enable them 'to see every object as it really is, and to see it clearly' (p. 115). The study of music and drawing is highly recommended, and 'a woman without poetry, is like a landscape without sunshine' (p. 162). Mrs Ellis freely alludes to Byron and Scott in this work of instruction for young Victorian womanhood; these references to Brontë favourites — especially to the former — will have raised quite a few eyebrows among the more strait-laced mammas.

It is certainly true that Mrs Ellis speaks of women's inferiority to men in several respects, and that her acceptance of women's lot 'to suffer, and be still' will grate on a modern reader (The Daughters of England, p. 161). For great literary attainments she believed women disqualified: 'It is only in her proper and natural sphere that a woman is poetical' (The Poetry of Life, published while she was still Sarah Stickney (1835), II, 79, 83). She is known to have found Currer Bell's work improper for a woman; but she made no secret of finding it fascinating, telling a friend in a letter, 'It is strange the hold this writer has upon me' (Home Life, p. 147; her review in The Morning Call is, as Margot Peters points out in Unquiet Soul, pp. 205 and 428, reprinted in the Bronte Society Transactions 72 [1962], 20-22; cf. Winnifrith, pp. 125-26).

To her contemporaries, her advice on the education of girls could seem shockingly 'advanced', as when she recommended mothers to let their young daughters roam freely outdoors: 'they should climb with [their brothers] the craggy rock, penetrate the forest, and ramble over hill and dale' (Mothers of England, p. 329). Advice of this sort was natural from a woman who, like Emily Brontë, loved the outdoors from childhood; again like Emily, she was devoted to animals, dogs and horses especially — see Home Life, pp. 5-6; her nieces tell us that she was a fearless rider — a devotion often reflected in her tremendously influential writings. As Eliza Acton's emphasis on bread-baking will have appealed more directly to Emily than to Anne, so Emily's 'twin spirit' will have taken a greater interest in Sarah Ellis's moral fiction than her sister. Mrs Ellis devoted three volumes of stories (of approx. 100 pages each) to the theme of intemperance, approached in a variety of ways.

Under the cover of fiction, she warned readers against the dangers of taking brandy as a remedy for ill-health, of convivial drinking for those who have inherited a predisposition for alcoholism, and of attempting to drink 'moderately' rather than abstaining completely if one is a sufferer — all highly controversial notions in her day (and accepted wisdom in ours). Her Family Secrets, or Hints to Those Who Would Make Home Happy were published in 1841, seven years before The Tenant of Wildfell Hall which has been called 'the first temperance novel' (by Chadwick, p. 355; on drink in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, see my article 'The Villain of Wildfell Hall). When still Sarah Stickney, Mrs Ellis had [251/252] published an account of 'Marriage As It May Be' whose protagonists resemble the Huntingdon ménage; the husband has 'a mere animal propensity — over which a variable and volatile spirit has little power. It was not to drown the anguish of a tortured mind that he swallowed the fatal draught, but solely for the sake of the excitement and the love of what he called "good company"' (Pictures, pp.

342-43). Mrs Sarah Ellis advocated giving space to imagination and poetry in education, qualities often crowded out of 'our busy modern lives'; 'what we most want in education . . . is to invest material things with the attributes of mind'. 7 Opinions like these align her with other women scholars and writers, such as Mary Howitt, and they knew each other well. 8 Another sentiment which would endear her to the Brontë sisters is expressed in The Mothers of England (p. 353): And here I must beg to call the attention of the mothers of England to one particular class of women, whose rights and whose sufferings ought to occupy, more than they do, the attention of benevolent Christians. I allude to governesses, and I believe that in this class, taken as a whole, is to be found more refinement of mind, and consequently more susceptibility of feeling, than in any other. Like Agnes Grey, Mrs Ellis maintained that it is admirable for young women to be 'industrious rather than dependent' and spoke warmly of the distress of governesses who must leave home for 'the cold reception of strangers, the doubtful position when placed in an unknown household . .

.' (Mothers of England, pp. 353, 358). Many of Mrs Ellis's qualities as manifested in her writings suggest that Anne would regard her with particular favour, and in view of the special closeness of the sisters' bond, the idea of calling Emily 'Ellis' might have originated with her. Be that as it may, the preceding pages should have done something to reduce the seeming improbability of the original proposal as regards Emily's pseudonym. If it is accepted, the three Brontës can be seen to have 'veiled' their identities and their sex in an intriguing manner: their 'conscientious scruples' should have been peculiarly mitigated by their 'ambiguous choice' of first names that were [252/253] not only surnames, but the surnames of three women — all belonging to their mother's generation — who had distinguished themselves in that world of letters into which they were about to venture. * * * * * * * If the 'Christian names' were chosen according to a certain common principle, what about 'Bell'?

The contention that the sisters simply plumped for the recently-arrived assistant clergyman's middle name, as 'a sort of private joke' (Frank, p. 15) does not fit in with the idea that they chose their pseudonyms after careful deliberation. Still, the surname was not of course required to serve such a delicate purpose (that of 'veiling' the authors' sex) as the first names. Hence the Arthur Bell Nicholls explanation is at least a possibility — but so are other options. Two conditions had to be fulfilled by the surname jointly adopted by the Brontës: it had to begin with a B; and it must be common enough not to afford any clue to their true identities. It is worth observing that if any frequent surname beginning with a B would have done, the sisters could have chosen the alias that Charlotte and Anne were to adopt during their visit to London and called themselves 'Brown'. The second consideration, on which Emily may be assumed to have been especially insistent, made the obvious choice impossible. Unlike Helen Graham/Huntingdon and hosts of other personages, real and imaginary and past and present, the sisters could not use their mother's maiden name.

Not only was it far too distinctive in itself; it was also the first name of the excluded brother who had cherished such high-flying literary ambitions of his own and who must at all costs be kept in ignorance of their project. Nevertheless, the name 'Branwell' could have been made to serve by lending its first and last letters to the enterprise. There is a third 'Bell' possibility, though. If the explanations of the 'Christian names' can be found in the Brontës' intellectual milieu, there is a chance that that milieu could have furnished the surname, too. The entire Brontë family, the men included, had earned their living in the field of education. All the girls taught professionally at one time or another, and their scheme for starting their own school is universally known. The Rev. Patrick had been a pupil-teacher at sixteen before going on to tutoring, a career also pursued by his son. The father of the Brontës took a life-long, and sometimes highly practical, interest in schooling, especially as a means to improve the minds, morals, and living conditions of his more impecunious parishioners.

His daughters and son taught the scions of wealthy families; but the account of the Morton village school in Jane Eyre testifies to Charlotte's commitment to education for the children of the poor. Throughout the first decades of the nineteenth century, one name dominated the debate on education, particularly that of the lower classes: Dr. Andrew Bell, [253/254] founder of the so-called Madras system of mutual instruction. 10 Reduced to its barest outlines, the system amounted to advanced pupils teaching younger ones. It was cheap, and it promised a rapid extension of literacy, reading and writing being the main skills that the older pupils could impart. Bell wrote a number of works on such topics as national education and the elements of tuition, and thousands of schools operated according to his system. His controversy with the Quaker Joseph Lancaster as to which of them was the true pioneer of the monitorial system was a widely-publicised quarrel. Bell's emphasis on the organisational connexion between national-education schemes and the Anglican Church made him unpopular among Dissenters but appealed to zealous supporters of the Established Church. The Rev.

Patrick Brontë was such a supporter, and it is inconceivable that the name Andrew Bell should not have been a familiar one to the Brontë family. There were a number of Madras-system schools in Yorkshire (for instance in Leeds, York, and Sheffield), and Bell was idolised by several leading English intellectuals, among them Robert Southey, who had a special standing in Haworth Parsonage. 10 In 1844, one year after Southey's death and little more than a year before the Brontës chose their pseudonyms, his biography of Bell was published. Only the first volume is actually by Southey; his son finished the work. Southey had backed Bell in print against Lancaster as early as 1812, so his almost hysterical admiration for the famous educationist may well have been known to the Brontës long before that. Another educational reformer and theorist (and woman novelist) with whose works the Brontës must have been acquainted was Maria Edgeworth, whose fictional tale 'Lame Jervas' praised Bell and his school in India as early as 1799.

The eponymous hero goes out as an assistant to Bell in India; see pp. 29 ff. in the second volume of Edgeworth's Tales and Novels in Ten Volumes.[254/255] Biographical speculation is virtually inescapable in Brontë studies, and these suggestions are as speculative as numerous other proposals that have been put forward in this field (though rather less so than others). Even so, they tend in a direction which seems to me to hold out the possibility of an as-yet-largely-untapped reservoir of evidential material: the study of the Brontës as early-Victorian intellectuals. The pathos and glory of the unique Brontë story always tended to 'veil' the three heroines in mists of myth and legend. Recent work on the Brontës has done much to lift those mists, at least in places; but this area of their life and work is still insufficiently explored. BBC - History - The Brontë Sisters z Anne, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, c.1834 © Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë were sisters and writers whose novels have become classics.

Charlotte was born on 21 April 1816, Emily on 30 July 1818 and Anne on 17 January 1820 all in Thornton, Yorkshire. They had two sisters, both of whom died in childhood and a brother, Branwell. Their father, Patrick, was an Anglican clergyman who was appointed as the rector of the village of Haworth, on the Yorkshire moors. After the death of their mother in 1821, their Aunt Elizabeth came to look after the family. All three sisters attended different schools at various times as well as being taught at home. The Brontë children were often left alone together in their isolated home and all began to write stories at an early age. All three sisters were employed at various times as teachers and governesses. In 1842, Charlotte and Emily went to Brussels to improve their French, but had to return home early after the death of their aunt Elizabeth. Charlotte returned to Brussels an English teacher in 1843-1844. By 1845, the family were back together at Haworth. By this stage, Branwell was addicted to drink and drugs.

In May 1846, the sisters published at their own expense a volume of poetry. This was the first use of their pseudonyms Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily) and Acton (Anne) Bell. They all went on to publish novels, with differing levels of success. Anne's 'Agnes Grey' and Charlotte's 'Jane Eyre' were published in 1847. 'Jane Eyre' was one of the year's best sellers. Anne's second novel, 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' and Emily's 'Wuthering Heights' were both published in 1848. 'The Tenant' sold well, but 'Wuthering Heights' did not. Branwell died of tuberculosis in September 1848. Emily died of the same disease on 19 December 1848 and Anne on 28 May 1849. Left alone with her father, Charlotte continued to write. She was by now a well-known author and visited London a number of times. 'Shirley' was published in 1849 and 'Villette' in 1853.

In 1854, Charlotte married her father's curate, Arthur Nicholls. She died of tuberculosis on 31 March 1855. Why did Charlotte Bronte pretend to be a male author ? | eNotes Why did Charlotte Bronte pretend to be a male author ? mwestwood | College Teacher | (Level 3) Distinguished Educator Posted on Regarding her choice of nom de plume, Charlotte Bronte herself wrote, Averse to public publicity, we veiled our own names to Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. In addition to realizing that it would be difficult to get their work published if they put their real names, Charlotte and her sisters felt that their writing at the time was not what would be called "feminine" and they would be "looked on with prejudice." slchanmo1885 | High School Teacher | (Level 1) Educator Posted on January 15, 2009 at 8:40 AM Charlotte Bronte was writing her works at a time (the 1840s) when women authors were not taken as seriously as male authors.

Bronte started to use a male pseudonym when she published her and her sisters poems under the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, male pen-names. Bronte pretended to be a male and used male narrators in order to project masculinity, which would broaden her audience (because some people might not want to read a book by a woman or primarily about a woman), be taken seriously, and have people respect her work more. In some ways, projecting that male-ness on a piece gave Bronte more power, power of influence, and power to explore gender issues more thoroughly. like 0 dislike 0 January 15, 2009 at 8:40 AM One must understand the era in which Charlotte Bronte was writing to see why she would use a male pen name. The 1840s was a time in history when women authors were not perceived to have the credibility that male authors had. Women were thought to be frivolous, frilly, and dainty creatures who had no perception of "the real world." This was a time when women's roles were that of mother, wife, housemaid, and little else.

It was not uncommon for women authors of this period (and others) to utilize male names to enhance their reception by editors, publishers, and others in the male-dominated industry. In contrast, today's literary marketplace is largely open to authors of every gender and persuasion. like 0 dislike 0 February 3, 2009 at 7:04 AM Is it possible perhaps that Charlotte Bronte wanted to hide herself behind a male persona as she actively wanted to shun the limelight? She had great respect for those women who could talk in a forthright manner in public and not veer from their beliefs in the face of public opprobrium, but she was not one of these women. Her depressions and hypochondriasis would lead one to believe that she was a highly strung woman aware of her own emotional limitations, who dreaded being unmasked and open to criticism aimed at her personally not her creation Currer Bell.

like 0 dislike 0 Bronte Charlotte Currer Bell Pseudonym - AbeBooks Bronte Charlotte Currer Bell Pseudonym You Searched For: Results (1 - 8) of 8 Sort By Bell, Currer; Bronte, Charlotte (pseudonym) Published by Richard Edward King - The Rainbow Library, London Used Hardcover Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Richard Edward King - The Rainbow Library, London. Hardcover. Book Condition: Good+. Red decorative cloth boards. A nice copy with chip at head of spine, pages tanning, owner's signature, half-title page loose but present. [ Montreal Books rating system: 1. Fine 2. Near Fine 3. Very Good 4. Good 5. Fair ]. Book. Bookseller Inventory # 500028 Bell, Currer; Bronte, Charlotte (pseudonym) Published by Richard Edward King - The Rainbow Library, London Used Hardcover Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Richard Edward King - The Rainbow Library, London. Hardcover. Book Condition: Good+. Red decorative cloth boards.

A nice copy with chip at head of spine, pages tanning, owner's signature, half-title page loose but present. [ Montreal Books rating system: 1. Fine 2. Near Fine 3. Very Good 4. Good 5. Fair ]. Bookseller Inventory # 500028 CHARLOTTE BRONTE (PSEUDONYM CURRER BELL)HARPER Published by HARPER AND BROS, NEW YORK (1868) Used Hardcover Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: HARPER AND BROS, NEW YORK, 1868. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. CHARLOTTE BRONTE DIED IN MARCH 1855 AND THIS NOVEL WAS PUBLISHED POSTHUMOUSLY IN 1857. THIS 1868 PRINTING, IS 8VO, DARK BROWN BLIND STAMPED BOARDS AND GILTED TITLING ON SPINE. OVERALL CONDITION IS VG, 330 PP, BINDING TIGHT AND NO MARKINGS.

Bookseller Inventory # 000191 Brontë, Charlotte (1816 - 1855)] Bell, Currer (pseudonym Published by Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York (1864) Used Hardcover Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York, 1864. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. Early American edition, newly and sympathetically bound, in French-style, five raised headbands with title label missing but author¿s name present three-quarter leather with finely marbled-paper covered boards, marbled endpapers, gilt titling and decorative lines on spine, , 572 pages, a handsome volume of a special and important book,. Bookseller Inventory # 001129 Brontë, Charlotte (pseudonym: Currer Bell) and Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (pseudonyms for Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë) Published by London. Smith, Elder, and Co. . (1860) Used Hardcover Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: London. Smith, Elder, and Co. ., 1860.

Cheap and Uniform Edition. Small 8vo. 436 pp. + 8 pp. catalogue of books about and by the Brontë sisters. + ads on front and rear end papers and rearcover A nice copy, overall, of the second edition of Charlotte Brontë?s first written novel, but last published, as well as he third issue of the collected edition of the Poems of the Brontë sisters, part of the so-callled Cheap Edition of their works. Soling of covers, very mild wear at ends of spine. Four very small tears in cloth at lower leading corner of front cover. Front hinge starting internally. Foxing on but a few pages. Else, Very Good. Refs: W. E. Smith, The Brontë Sisters, A Bibliographgical Catalogue, pp. 164?167. Orange glazed publisher?s cloth with black printing and decoration on spine and both covers. Bookseller Inventory # 11275 Bell, Currer [pseudonym for Charlotte Brontë] Published by Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1853.

(1853) Used Hardcover First Edition Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1853., 1853. First edition. (4), 324; (4), 319, (1); (4), 350, (2) s. Contemporary quarter leather bindings. Spines and boards quite heavily worn, corners bumped, spine ends rubbed, top of spine of volume 3 chipped. Paste-down endpapers with owner's book-plate (Crossley and Clarke's Subscription & Circulating Library, Leceister), first free end papers with crossed out owner's signatures. Interiors with some occasional foxing and soiling, volume 2 with a couple of chips and tears at the edges of page 99 and one ca 2,5 cm tear at the edge of page 255. Volume 3 with ca 2,5 cm tears at edges of pages 150 and 333. First edition of Charlotte Brontë's last novel.

Bookseller Inventory # 174926 BRONTE, CHARLOTTE), CURRER BELL (pseudonym) Used Hardcover First Edition Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Smith,Elder, London, 1853. by Currer Bell, 3 volumes.HB. First edition with first state of publisher's 12-page catalog in Vol. 1.dated January, 1853. Bound in half red morocco over marbled boards, lightly rubbed. Top edges gilt. Very lightly intermittent foxing, some very minor soiling to a few pages. Gilt on top edge is scratched and lightly worn. Slight staining from the red leather on the fep. Cited in Sadleir 349, Smith 6. Attractive set in VG condition. Bookseller Inventory # 2224 More Information About This Seller | Ask Bookseller a Question 7. Bookseller Image Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. A New Edition, Revised, with a Biographical Notice of the Authors, a Selection from their Literary Remains, and a Preface, by Currer Bell.

[Second Edition]. Ellis and Acton Bell, [pseudonyms Emily Brontë (1818-1848) and Anne Brontë (1820-1849)]. Introduction by Currer Bell [pseudonym Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)]. Published by Published by Smith Elder & Co., 65, Cornhill, London. Second Edition , 1851. 2 works in one volume. 1850. (1850) Used Hardcover Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Published by Smith Elder & Co., 65, Cornhill, London. Second Edition , 1851. 2 works in one volume. 1850., 1850. Second edition hard back binding in publisher's original chocolate cloth covers which have been rebacked whilst preserving the original cloth, gilt title and author lettering to the spine, blind tooling to the front and rear covers, pale lemon yellow end leaves, untrimmed page edges. 8vo. 7½'' x 5¼''. With the contemporary binder's ticket of Westley of London adhered to the rear paste-down.

Complete with the review leaf before first half-title. This edition was published in December 1850 but the title date of 'a large proportion' of copies was altered to 1851 to render them more suitable for the forthcoming year (see Wise, p. 104). This is evidently a slightly later issue, in Westley's chocolate cloth rather than the 'claret' given by Wise, and with the 16 page publisher's catalogue bound in at the rear dated December 1855. ''This new edition of 'Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey' is a book of very considerable literary importance. Not only does it contain (pp. vii-xvi) Charlotte's 'Biographical Notice' of her two sisters, together with (pp. xvii-xxiv) a Preface to 'Wuthering Heights'; it also includes a series of poems by both Emily and Anne which appeared in its pages for the first time'' (Wise, p.104). The whole now preserved in custom-made blue Solander case with rounded spine, gilt title lettering and cross bands.

Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's first and only published novel, written between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Emily died the following year, aged 30, the decision to publish it came after the success of her sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for it to be published as this posthumous second edition in 1850. Member of the P.B.F.A. BRONTË SISTERS. Bookseller Inventory # 85321 Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell | work by Bronte sisters | Britannica.com Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell work by Brontë sisters THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic. Learn about this topic in these articles: in Anne Brontë In 1846 Anne contributed 21 poems to Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, a joint work with her sisters Charlotte and Emily.

Her first novel, Agnes Grey, was published together with Emily’s Wuthering Heights in three volumes (of which Agnes Grey was the third) in December 1847. The reception to these volumes, associated in the public mind with the... in Charlotte Brontë: Life In the autumn of 1845 Charlotte came across some poems by Emily, and that discovery led to the publication of a joint volume of Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846), or Charlotte, Emily, and Anne; the pseudonyms were assumed to preserve secrecy and avoid the special treatment that they believed reviewers accorded to women. The book was issued at their own expense. It... in Emily Brontë: Life ...across some poems by Emily, and this led to the discovery that all three sisters—Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—had written verse. A year later they published jointly a volume of verse, Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, the initials of these pseudonyms being those of the sisters; it contained 21 of Emily’s poems, and a consensus of later criticism has accepted the fact that...

Bronte Charlotte Currer Bell - AbeBooks Bronte Charlotte Currer Bell Results (1 - 30) of 331 1 Bronte, Charlotte, And Mason, Michael (Introduction By), And Bell, Currer (Preface By) Published by Penguin Books (1996) Used Trade paperback Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Penguin Books, 1996. Trade paperback. Book Condition: Very Good. Crease on bottom front corner.Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 533 p. Penguin Classics. Enjoy reading with a real book in your hands. Shipping from North Carolina. Dedicated to delighting our customers. Delivery confirmation provided on all domestic orders. Happy to ship to international locations. Consider expedited shipping - just a little more moves your purchase a lot faster. Digital photos available on request for any book.

Bookseller Inventory # CPB0000013899 Charlotte Bronte, Currer Bell, Joyce Carol Oates Published by PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE (1983) ISBN 10: 0553211404 ISBN 13: 9780553211405 Used Mass Market Charlotte Bronte, Currer Bell, Joyce Carol Oates Published by PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE (1983) ISBN 10: 0553211404 ISBN 13: 9780553211405 Used Mass Market Charlotte Bronte; Preface-Currer Bell; Introduction-Joyce Carol Oates Published by Turtleback Books: A Division of Sanval (1983) ISBN 10: 088103214X ISBN 13: 9780881032147 Used Bronte, Charlotte, and Bell, Currer (Dec.

21st, 1847, Preface to the 2nd edition by) Published by Washington Square Press., New York. (1970) ISBN 10: 0671455044 ISBN 13: 9780671455040 Used Mass-market paperback Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Washington Square Press., New York., 1970. Mass-market paperback. 24th printing since 1953.. 517 p. Mass-market (rack) paperback. Cover portrait drawings in Pen&Ink against vertical shadings: tan, white, green. Black title. Romantic fiction, 19th century Great Britain. This tale of the governess who came to Thornfield, and the web of intrigue surrounding the otherwise appealing master of the manor, was first published in 1847. Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Age-toning. Slight cover surface wear. No markings.

Bookseller Inventory # Alibris.B3570004430 Charlotte Bronte, Currer Bell, Joyce Carol Oates Published by PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE (1983) ISBN 10: 0553211404 ISBN 13: 9780553211405 Used Mass Market ISBN 10: 158279068X ISBN 13: 9781582790688 Used Hardcover Charlotte Bronte, Currer Bell, Joyce Carol Oates Published by PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE (1983) ISBN 10: 0553211404 ISBN 13: 9780553211405 New Mass Market Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, 1983. Mass Market. Book Condition: New. MASS MARKET Legendary independent bookstore online since 1994. Reliable customer service and no-hassle return policy. Fiction and Poetry>Literature>A to Z.

Book: NEW, New. Bookseller Inventory # 01978055321140500. Bookseller Inventory # 01978055321140500 Published by Hurst & Company, NY Used Hardcover Published by Berlin; A Weichert Verlag; ]; (1937) Used Hardcover Published by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia Used Hardcover Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Porter & Coates, Philadelphia. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. "Shirley", from The Works of Charlotte Bronte (Currer Bell), published by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, not date listed, but gift inscription from the previous owner is dated 1888. An illustrated edition in four volumes, this offering is for only one of the volumes "Shirley". Book is in very good condition, done on blue patterned hard cover boards, paper label pastedown on spine. Top edge of spine shows wear, otherwise the book is tightly bound and very clean.

Top edges done in gilt, with portion of green ribbon page marker still bound in, the rest of the marker is present but has become seperated. Two items of ephemera relating to Charlotte Bronte are included with the book (as found). Book measures approximately 8" x 5 1/2". Bookseller Inventory # 000379 Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Imágica, 2006. Tapa blanda. 1. _73_ / edit.: Imágica / Encuad.: Tapa blanda / Año: 2006 / Colecc.: El país de las damas / 1 ª edic. / Novela / Estado: Como nuevo ---> El Huerfano forma parte de la extensa producción literaria de juventud de Charlotte Brontë. Escrita cuando tenía 17 años, nos descubre a una autora desconocida, imaginativa, vital y aventurera. El mundo de Verdópolis esta repleto de fantasía, aventuras, batallas y lances amorosos.

Las heroínas desafían a los hombres valientes y aventureros que sustentan el domino y el poder, para mantenerse fieles a sí mismas. 23 x 15,5 cm. 157 pag. Bookseller Inventory # 14476 Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: J.M. Dent and Company, London, England, 1895. Second Edition. Small Octavo; G/no-DJ; Red spine with gold text; Boards strong, age-worn, generally clean, with shelfwear and edgewear, corners bumped and chipped, rubbing at top of spine as well as light fraying, cover and spine gilt faded, spine darkened and soiled; Textblock age-toned, otherwise clean aside from moderate-to-heavy foxing/tanning along pastedowns, endpages, and flyleaves, spine cocked, inner hinges cracked, fore and tail edges deckled, top edge gilt intact yet dulled, publisher-printed bookplate on front pastedown, light blue ribbon placeholder affixed to headband the ends of which are yellowed with age; pp 292.

French-to-English Translation Appendix, Volume 7 of 12 ONLY. Rockville. Bookseller Inventory # 7-3-1265917 the Brontë Sisters: Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, the Brontë Sisters This is a blog about the Bronte Sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. And their father Patrick, their mother Maria and their brother Branwell. About their pets, their friends, the parsonage (their house), Haworth the town in which they lived, the moors they loved so much, the Victorian era in which they lived. I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas: they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind. Emily Bronte Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, Life, believe, is not a dream, So dark as sages say; Oft a little morning rain Foretells a pleasant day: Sometimes there are clouds of gloom, But these are transient all; If the shower will make the roses bloom, Oh, why lament its fall?

Rapidly, merrily, Life's sunny hours flit by, Gratefully, cheerily, Enjoy them as they fly. What though death at times steps in, And calls our Best away? What though Sorrow seems to win, O'er hope a heavy sway? Yet Hope again elastic springs, Unconquered, though she fell, Still buoyant are her golden wings, Still strong to bear us well. Manfuly, fearlessly, The day of trial bear, For gloriously, victoriously, Aylott and Jones: publishers and booksellers of Paternoster Row. 28/ 01/1846: Charlotte wrote to them to see if they would publish a short collection of poetry, if necessary “on the Author’s account.” They agreed to publish it if the author covered the cost of paper and printing. 06/02/1846: Charlotte Bronte sent a manuscript of poems to Messrs. Aylott and Jones publishers. They used the pseudonym of Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell.

06/04/1846: Charlotte Bronte wrote to publisher Aylott & Jones: "C.E & A Bell are now preparing for the Press a work of fiction - consisting of three distinct and unconnected tales which may be published together as a work of 3 vols. of ordinary novel-size, or separately as single vols - as shall be deemed most advisable." 07/05/1846: First printed copies of the Book of "Poems" by Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte arrived at the Parsonage. They had used the pseudonym of Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell. 04/07/1846: The published Bronte Poems using the pseudonym of Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell received favourable criticism. Suppose the sisters could see this: Price: US$ 3724.83 Bookseller Image Poems, by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.

BRONTË, Charlotte, Emily & Anne.] Publisher: London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1846 [1848] Publication Date: 1848 Binding: Edition: 1st Edition Book Description: London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1846 [1848], 1848. Octavo. Original olive green cloth, boards stamped in blind, titles to the spine gilt. With final advert leaf. Ownership inscription dated 1873 on front pastedown, with MS notes in the same attractive hand on both sides of front free endpaper, at head of contents page, on verso of errata slip, and to rear blank, with contemporary newspaper clipping about the Brontës tipped in to both sides of rear free endpaper. Spine and board edges faintly sunned as usual, inner hinges just cracked but holding firm, tiny stain (sealing wax?) at head of front board, a few trivial blemishes to the paper stock, but an excellent copy. First Edition, second issue with cancel title page (as usual). The first issue is extant in tiny numbers and is now virtually unobtainable.

Published pseudonymously to forestall possible prejudice against female writers, this collection of verses contains 19 poems by Charlotte Brontë ("Currer Bell"), and 21 each by Emily ("Ellis") and Anne ("Acton"). First published by Aylott Jones in 1846 in an edition of 1000 copies, Poems was a resounding commercial flop, with only 39 copies sold. The remaining 961 copies were placed in storage and, following the success of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, were reissued in October 1848 by Smith, Elder, and Co. with a cancel title page showing their name as the publishers but with the date unaltered. Bookseller Inventory # 31938 Parsonage Charlotte Bronte Presently the door opened, and in came a superannuated mastiff, followed by an old gentleman very like Miss Bronte, who shook hands with us, and then went to call his daughter.

A long interval, during which we coaxed the old dog, and looked at a picture of Miss Bronte, by Richmond, the solitary ornament of the room, looking strangely out of place on the bare walls, and at the books on the little shelves, most of them evidently the gift of the authors since Miss Bronte's celebrity. Presently she came in, and welcomed us very kindly, and took me upstairs to take off my bonnet, and herself brought me water and towels. The uncarpeted stone stairs and floors, the old drawers propped on wood, were all scrupulously clean and neat. When we went into the parlour again, we began talking very comfortably, when the door opened and Mr. Bronte looked in; seeing his daughter there, I suppose he thought it was all right, and he retreated to his study on the opposite side of the passage; presently emerging again to bring W---- a country newspaper. This was his last appearance till we went. Miss Bronte spoke with the greatest warmth of Miss Martineau, and of the good she had gained from her. Well!

we talked about various things; the character of the people, - about her solitude, etc., till she left the room to help about dinner, I suppose, for she did not return for an age. The old dog had vanished; a fat curly-haired dog honoured us with his company for some time, but finally manifested a wish to get out, so we were left alone. At last she returned, followed by the maid and dinner, which made us all more comfortable; and we had some very pleasant conversation, in the midst of which time passed quicker than we supposed, for at last W---- found that it was half-past three, and we had fourteen or fifteen miles before us. So we hurried off, having obtained from her a promise to pay us a visit in the spring... ------------------- "She cannot see well, and does little beside knitting. The way she weakened her eyesight was this: When she was sixteen or seventeen, she wanted much to draw; and she copied nimini-pimini copper-plate engravings out of annuals, ('stippling,' don't the artists call it?) every little point put in, till at the end of six months she had produced an exquisitely faithful copy of the engraving.

She wanted to learn to express her ideas by drawing. After she had tried to draw stories, and not succeeded, she took the better mode of writing; but in so small a hand, that it is almost impossible to decipher what she wrote at this time. I asked her whether she had ever taken opium, as the description given of its effects in Villette was so exactly like what I had experienced, - vivid and exaggerated presence of objects, of which the outlines were indistinct, or lost in golden mist, etc. She replied, that she had never, to her knowledge, taken a grain of it in any shape, but that she had followed the process she always adopted when she had to describe anything which had not fallen within her own experience; she had thought intently on it for many and many a night before falling to sleep, - wondering what it was like, or how it would be, - till at length, sometimes after the progress of her story had been arrested at this one point for weeks, she wakened up in the morning with all clear before her, as if she had in reality gone through the experience, and then could describe it, word for word, as it had happened.

I cannot account for this psychologically; I only am sure that it was so, because she said it. ----------------------She thought much of her duty, and had loftier and clearer notions of it than most people, and held fast to them with more success. It was done, it seems to me, with much more difficulty than people have of stronger nerves, and better fortunes. All her life was but labour and pain; and she never threw down the burden for the sake of present pleasure. I don't know what use you can make of all I have said. I have written it with the strong desire to obtain appreciation for her. Yet, what does it matter? She herself appealed to the world's judgement for her use of some of the faculties she had, - not the best, - but still the only ones she could turn to strangers' benefit. They heartily, greedily enjoyed the fruits of her labours, and then found out she was much to be blamed for possessing such faculties.

Why ask for a judgement on her from such a world?" elizabeth gaskell/charlotte bronte Poem: No coward soul is mine No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the worlds storm-troubled sphere: I see Heavens glories shine, And faith shines equal, arming me from fear. O God within my breast. Almighty, ever-present Deity! Life -- that in me has rest, As I -- Undying Life -- have power in Thee! Vain are the thousand creeds That move mens hearts: unutterably vain; Worthless as withered weeds, Or idlest froth amid the boundless main, To waken doubt in one Holding so fast by Thine infinity; So surely anchored on The steadfast Rock of immortality. With wide-embracing love Thy Spirit animates eternal years, Pervades and broods above, Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates, and rears. Though earth and man were gone, And suns and universes ceased to be, And Thou wert left alone, Every existence would exist in Thee.

There is not room for Death, Nor atom that his might could render void: Thou -- Thou art Being and Breath, And what Thou art may never be destroyed. The Bronte Family Grandparents - paternal Hugh Brunty was born 1755 and died circa 1808. He married Eleanor McClory, known as Alice in 1776. Grandparents - maternal Thomas Branwell (born 1746 died 5th April 1808) was married in 1768 to Anne Carne (baptised 27th April 1744 and died 19th December 1809). Parents Father was Patrick Bronte, the eldest of 10 children born to Hugh Brunty and Eleanor (Alice) McClory. He was born 17th March 1777 and died on 7th June 1861. Mother was Maria Branwell, who was born on 15th April 1783 and died on 15th September 1821. Maria had a sister, Elizabeth who was known as Aunt Branwell.

She was born in 1776 and died on 29th October 1842. Patrick Bronte married Maria Branwell on 29th December 1812. The Bronte Children Patrick and Maria Bronte had six children. The first child was Maria, who was born in 1814 and died on 6th June 1825. The second daughter, Elizabeth was born on 8th February 1815 and died shortly after Maria on 15th June 1825. Charlotte was the third daughter, born on 21st April 1816. Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls (born 1818) on 29th June 1854. Charlotte died on 31st March 1855. Arthur lived until 2nd December 1906. The first and only son born to Patrick and Maria was Patrick Branwell, who was born on 26th June 1817 and died on 24th September 1848.

Emily Jane, the fourth daughter was born on 30th July 1818 and died on 19th December 1848. The sixth and last child was Anne, born on 17th January 1820 who died on 28th May 1849. Blogarchief

Question: Which Bronte sister used the pseudonym Currer Bell?
Answer: Charlotte Bronte