We read in the Yorkshire Post the curious case of a student who sells her books for his classes instead of the other way around. And oh what a book this is.
A RARE first edition of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is about to be sold to fund its owner's dream of becoming an artist.
The copy of the classic love story set in Yorkshire is expected to fetch £50,000 at auction in London on November 13.
The money will pay for Anne Hall's three-year diploma art course in London. The rare book has been in her family for four generations.
Miss Hall, 23, who started the three-year degree course in September, said: "It was quite a wrench to part with the book after all this time but the money will go to pay my fees."
She already has a degree in Physics from University College London and as a result was unable to get a student loan to finance her course at The London Art Academy in Southwark.
Her fees there are £1,000 a term and money from the sale of the first edition will finance her course and also pay her living expenses. She intends to become an artist.
Simon Roberts, a book specialist at Bonhams, said: "This book is incredibly rare. I have been in the book trade nearly 20 years and have never handled a copy of the first edition.
"I took the call when the book came in as it was very exciting to see it. It is one of the main works you want as a collector if you're putting together a group of key works of English literature."
Emily Bronte's tragic love story of Cathy and Heathcliff was first published under a male pseudonym in 1847. It is thought the first print run was only 200 copies.
Mr Roberts said: "It wasn't hugely popular at first but it started to take off in the 1860s/70s. It began with a famous biography of Charlotte Bronte by Mrs Gaskell which helped generate interest in the three Bronte sisters."
All of them wrote compulsively while at Haworth, inspired by the bleak Yorkshire moors. Charlotte Bronte once described how she and her sisters had always clung to the idea of being authors one day.
She and Emily were educated for a time in Brussels and later decided to open a school at their home but the enterprise was unsuccessful due to a lack of pupils.
Nevertheless, the sisters firmly believed in the importance of educating women a
nd Emily's masterpiece is now being sold to help another woman realise her ambition. (John Shaw)
More details concerning the book itself can be found on Bonhams.
Lot No: 79•
[BRONTE (EMILY)]
Wuthering Heights. A Novel, by Ellis Bell [-Agnes Grey. A Novel, by Acton Bell], 3 vol., first edition, 4-page advertisement (November, 1847) in volume 3, title working loose, small grease stain in lower margin of pp.65-70 (touching a few letters) and very small abrasion touching 2 letters of p.129 of volume one, small blank piece torn away from upper margin of p.411 in volume 2, occasional spotting, early maroon quarter morocco, "Maynard's Library, 84 High Street, Cheltenham" circular gilt stamp on spines, later gilt lettering labels, spines refurbished, rubbed, preserved in green half morocco solander box by Bayntun Riviere [Parrish, pp.85-86; Sadleir 350; Smith, pp.60-63], 8vo, Thomas Cautley Newby, 1847
Estimate: £30,000 - 50,000
Footnote:
One of the great rarities of nineteenth century literature.
Rarity indeed. It goes on sale on
November 13. Shall we break our piggy banks? :P
Categories: In the News, Wuthering Heights
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