Skip to main content

Secondary sourceBook1915

Varied Types

G. K. Chesterton · 1915

A 1915 collection of essays by G. K. Chesterton. Its essay on Charlotte Brontë is one of several portraits of famous figures in the book.

A later essay collection whose Charlotte Brontë essay assesses her, though she is one of many subjects in the book.

Ask Charlotte Brontë about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Varied TypesPDF · 288 pages
G. K. Chesterton, Varied Types (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1915), scanned book from the Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This is a book of essays by G. K. Chesterton, published in New York by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1915. Its contents include an essay on Charlotte Brontë, along with essays on William Morris, Byron, Pope, Saint Francis and many others. The essays were first published in 1902 under the title Twelve Types. The version students see is a scanned book in PDF form from the Internet Archive, so it is a scan of the printed pages, not the original copy.

Why it matters

This collection shows how a popular English writer wrote about several famous people in one book. The Brontë essay is only a small part of it. Readers in the early twentieth century bought such collections to learn about many figures together, and the book shows how Charlotte Brontë was placed beside writers, poets and rulers.

Look closer

  • Why might an author group Charlotte Brontë with so many different kinds of figures?
  • What does the book's note say about where the essays first appeared?
  • What might this collection leave out about Charlotte Brontë's own words and life?

This book 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.

More Charlotte Brontë sources

Meet the AI Charlotte Brontë →
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

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Charlotte Brontë now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions