Published by Primary Source Microfilm

Literary Manuscripts and Correspondence of the Brontë Family from the Brontë Parsonage Museum and The British Library, London

Few other writers of the 19th century have attracted such deep interest and fierce controversy as Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë. Their works are amongst the best-known in the canon, yet views differ dramatically on their significance. Whereas contemporary reviewers were often scandalized by their work, by the early 20th century, the critical consensus had softened to depict a united band of pious, reclusive outsiders. However, recent revisionist research has suggested a far more complex picture of three very individual writers, who held their own passionate opinions on love, spirituality, family and womanhood, and frequently defied social convention.

This collection enables scholars to form their own opinions, by bringing together original manuscripts from the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and in the British Library, London. It represents every aspect of the Brontë's output, from fiction, poetry and notebooks to correspondence.

With questions of attribution still unsolved, especially among the juvenilia, this offers great opportunities for new research into a group of writers whose emotional intensity and imaginative scope continue to exert a tremendous influence over English literature and culture.

Included are the complete autograph manuscripts of Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, and sections of The Professor, the first press reviews of Wuthering Heights and much miniature juvenilia.

12 reels