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Monday, March 12, 2007

Monday, March 12, 2007 12:20 am by M. in , , ,    8 comments
This post on BookRide provides very interesting information about the current value of a first edition of Wuthering Heights/Agnes Grey :
[BRONTE, Emily and Anne]. WUTHERING HEIGHTS. A Novel. By Ellis Bell (with) Agnes Grey. A Novel, by Acton Bell. London: Thomas Cautley Newby, 1847. 3 volumes.
Current Selling Prices
$120,000-$250,000 /£65,000-£130,000

CLASSIC LITERATURE
The rarest of all 19th century classics. The publishers, finding that Wuthering Heights did not contain enough material to form the customary “three-decker,” added Agnes Grey to make the third volume. According to a letter from her sister Charlotte Bronte to W. S. Williams, of the firm of Smith, Elder and Company, “Mr. Newby undertook first to print 350 copies of Wuthering Heights, but he afterwards declared he only had printed 250.” Charlotte also later recalled that the 'immature but very real powers' of Wuthering Heights were 'scarcely recognised' at the time, although several critics acknowledged its 'great promise'. Thomas Cautley Newby was notorious for his exploitation of young authors and made very little effort to advertise the work. Bastard.

VALUE? I doubt a copy will turn up online. It is possible by some freak a copy could turn up on ebay - as Cadillac Jack says 'anything can be anywhere'. One of those books that would strain the powers of even the most confirmed overpricer. 3 copies have shown at auction in the last 35 years, none nice. At a terrestrial auction a copy made $216,000 late last year against an estimate of $8000 - $12000 (where do they get these guys?) It was described thus : 'Some marginal repairs and repaired tears mostly to inner margins. Early 20th-century green straight grain morocco gilt. FIRST EDITION, volumes 1 and 2 comprise Wuthering Heights, volume 3 contains Agnes Gray. OF GREAT RARITY, IN ANY CONDITION.' [Want level/High]

The British Library copy pictured above (many thanks) is in the original cloth, the most desirable state and almost occult in its rarity. The 1848 US is comparatively plentiful and can command as much as $10K. The LEC 1993 edition illustrated by the great erotic painter Balthus is one of the most desirable books from that press and can make $5000. 300 only were printed. One of the most valuable works of 19th Century literature, only surpasses by the freakish 1865 Alice and the poetry pamphlet by Poe 'Tamerlane'. Frankenstein does not compare in status , rarity or price. Jane Austen is not in the same league cash wise and sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre also from 1847 is worth about a third of Emily's masterpiece.
The BookClub also offers information on a first edition of Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
(BRONTË, Anne). The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. By Acton Bell. London: T. C. Newby, 1848. Three volumes. Octavo, contemporary or near-contemporary full blue cloth. Housed in custom slipcase. $45,000.

Exceptionally rare first edition, first issue, of the only separate publication by Anne Bronte.
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8 comments:

  1. In 2007 Orchises Press of Alexandria, Virginia, published a facsimile of the first edition of this novel (not including _Agnes Grey._ ($100)

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  2. MY NAME IS MOSES AND I THINK I HAVE A FIRST EDITION OF WUTHERING HEIGHTS BOOK AND IT IS IN PERFECT SHAPE I WILL LIKE TO GET SOME INFORMATION ON IT LIKE THE COLOR OF THE FRONT COVER AND SIZE OF THE BOOK

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  3. anybody have second or third editions for sale? blaynepeacock at hotmail dot com

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  4. I have an 1889 edition- Pub. Smith, Elder & Co. Is it worth anything ?

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  5. i have a 1850 edition of ellis bell and acton bell wuthering heights and agnes grey it is a green bound book in good condition. how much is it worth

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  6. we have a copy of wuthering heights dated 1848 it is approx 6 inches tall by 4 inches wide.It is Burgandy in color with Gold lettering.On the back side of the title page is a short bio on emily. birth till death stating !st publication was in 1847. And at the bottom of that same page it states Printed in Great Britain.Next page an illistration saying Heathcliff had the key in his hand. Followed by another title page with the title of course the author being Emily and the Illustator being A.H buckland The book consists of 376 pages

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  7. I have an 1871 Smith Elder copy of The tenant of Wildfell Hall. The very outer edge of the cover spine is attached on one side only, but other than that the book is in good condition.What would the approximate value be?

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  8. i have a copy of wuthering heights im not sure how to tell what addition it is? Its in a brown leather hardcover. It says art type edition wuthering heights by emily bronte the worlds popular classica books inc. Publishers new york. Boston.please reply at beckysway12 at gmail thank u

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