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The Professor (1857 publisher's advertisements)

1857

Publisher's advertisements from 1857 that promote Mrs Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Brontë and name her as author of Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette.

Publisher's advertising from 1857 that promotes Charlotte Brontë's books and her life story, showing how her reputation was marketed soon after her death.

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Source: Wikisource

About this source

What it is

This is a set of publisher's advertisements printed with a book from 1857. They advertise a new two-volume edition of Mrs Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Brontë, which includes a portrait of Miss Brontë and a view of Haworth Church and Parsonage. The advertisement names Charlotte Brontë as author of Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette. It also quotes a review from The Times praising the book's account of her life.

Why it matters

These advertisements show how publishers sold Charlotte Brontë's name and story to readers soon after her death in 1855. Mrs Gaskell, who was also a novelist, wrote the biography that made her life widely known. The quoted review shows how critics then judged the author of Jane Eyre and linked her work to her personal suffering.

Look closer

  • Why does the advertisement stress that her personal history was 'utterly unknown'?
  • What does the advertisement promise readers, and how might that have affected what they expected from her books?
  • Whose words are quoted here, and which voices are missing from this sales page?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Charlotte Brontë on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of the first edition of Jane Eyre, an Autobiography, edited by Currer Bell, in three volumes, Vol. I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., Cornhill, 1847. Cream-colored paper with black printed text.Book

Primary source

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë · 1847

Pencil and chalk portrait on a pale tan paper of a woman with her hair pulled back in smooth bands, wearing a high-collared dress with a frilled lace collar and a tied bow at the neck. She gazes to one side with a slight smile. Handwritten inscription in the lower left corner.Painting

Primary source

Charlotte Brontë (chalk portrait by George Richmond)

George Richmond · 1850

Painted group portrait of three young women against a dark background with a pale green-yellow vertical light band. The woman on the left wears a grey collar and dark dress, the one in the centre wears a green dress and has curly hair, and the one on the right wears a dark brown dress with a grey collar. A wooden table edge is in the foreground.Painting

Primary source

The Brontë Sisters

Branwell Brontë · c. 1834

Title page of the 1857 London first edition of The Life of Charlotte Brontë by E. C. Gaskell, in two volumes, Vol. I, published by Smith, Elder & Co., Cornhill. Includes an Aurora Leigh quotation.Book

Secondary source

The Life of Charlotte Brontë

Elizabeth Gaskell · 1857

Title page of the 1853 first edition of Villette, reading 'VILLETTE.' followed by 'By Currer Bell, author of Jane Eyre, Shirley, etc.', 'In Three Volumes, Vol. I', and publisher lines for Smith, Elder & Co., London, and Smith, Taylor & Co., Bombay, dated 1853.Book

Primary source

Villette

Charlotte Brontë · 1853

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