But now a rare a first edition copy of the book is set to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000 at an auction. Auctioneer Sotheby’s says the book, first published in three volumes in 1847 under Bronte’s pseudonym ‘Currer Bell’, is “an unusually clean first edition copy”. The auction takes place on July 15. Ann Dinsdale, collections manager at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, said: “Charlotte was offered £100 for the copyright. With further editions and foreign rights her actual payments were in the region of £500. “There is a well-known account by the head of the firm, George Smith,describing how he started reading the manuscript of Jane Eyre and was so gripped by it that he cancelled all engagements for the day so that he could finish reading it. “ Last year a poem by Charlotte Brontë, I’ve been Wandering in the Greenwoods, sold for £92,450 more than double the £45,000 it had been expected to fetch . It meant that each word of the 16-line poem was worth more than £1,000. yorkshirepost
Somewhere Charlotte is smiling lol Amazing amounts
BeantwoordenVerwijderenWhat gets me is she only made the same 500 from any of her books... Everyone was shocked when she got 500 for Villette , the same amount she got as an unknown author in 1847.
But I believe Mr. Smith was annoyed. Annoyed by the wait for this book and then because he and particularly his mother were used in the book. I can't imagine what it is like to see yourself in print via Charlotte Bronte...who can highlight every wart and failing with genius lol ouch . No wonder Arthur Bell Nicholls was encouraged by his portrait in Shirley ...he got off much easier than most !
But CB was okay with her payment as she said " 500 pounds is not to be despised!" lol Indeed
So spoke the woman who had worked for an annual salary of 16 !