A tryst with the Brontës

A first edition of Jane Eyre will be auctioned next July 15 at Sotheby's. Yorkshire Post reports:

But now a rare a first edition copy of the book is set to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000 at an auction.
Auctioneer Sotheby’s says the book, first published in three volumes in 1847 under Brontë’s pseudonym ‘Currer Bell’, is “an unusually clean first edition copy”.
The auction takes place on July 15.
Ann Dinsdale, collections manager at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, said: “Charlotte was offered £100 for the copyright. With further editions and foreign rights her actual payments were in the region of £500.
“There is a well-known account by the head of the firm, George Smith, describing how he started reading the manuscript of Jane Eyre and was so gripped by it that he cancelled all engagements for the day so that he could finish reading it. “
Last year a poem by Charlotte Brontë, I’ve been Wandering in the Greenwoods, sold for £92,450 more than double the £45,000 it had been expected to fetch .
It meant that each word of the 16-line poem was worth more than £1,000.

ITV is also excited about the arrival of the Grand Départ to Yorkshire:

It's a big thank you to pupils, parents and teachers of Haworth Primary, who told viewers how they are getting ready for the Grand Depart on our show tonight.
Calendar presenter Duncan came live from the village tonight, helped by cameraman Mike Newton and director Jess Dolan.
Haworth is part of stage two of the Tour de France and everyone we featured tonight is ready for a huge party at the weekend, when the biggest annual sporting event in the World arrives in Yorkshire.

Yorkshire's pride is the subject of this column in Financial Times:

But even a Lancastrian has to admit that Yorkshire has given much to the world – such as the chronometer to establish the longitude of a ship at sea, invented by Foulby-born John Harrison; or the campaign to abolish the slave trade, led by Hull’s William Wilberforce; and the first practical flushing toilet, devised by Barnsley-born Joseph Bramah. It produced woollen textiles, steel and coal. In literature it has given us the Brontë sisters, JB Priestley, playwright Alan Bennett and poet Ted Hughes; in art, sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth and painter David Hockney; in music, composer Frederick Delius and pop bands such as Pulp and Kaiser Chiefs. It is a beautifully diverse county of great cities, ancient cathedrals, wild uplands and a rugged coast. (Brian Groom)

DVD Talk reviews the Classic Drama Collection by Acorn Media:

The third film, ITV's 1997 adaptation of Jane Eyre, starts the set's downward slide very slightly. Samantha Morton is Jane, the young and timid governess whose memories of an unhappy childhood hold her back from the love of a handsome but abrasive gentleman, Mr. Rochester (Ciaran Hinds). She starts her employment at Thornfield Hall, teaching Adele (Timia Berthome), ward of Mr. Rochester, and there she catches his eye, first when she startles his horse and he falls into an icy river, then on numerous occasions afterward, including an incident in which someone sets fire to his bedroom. Eventually, they begin to spend more time together, simply talking, and before long, Mr. Rochester proposes. Happily ever after, however, will not be simple.It's a shame that this Jane Eyre doesn't quite work, because there's nothing wrong with most of it. The production is handsomely mounted and the film effectively hits most of its dramatic beats. Unfortunately, the one misstep lies at the heart of the story, in the casting of Ciaran Hinds as Mr. Rochester. Edward is meant to be "somewhat unpleasant," someone who "asks by way of command," but the parts of his performance that fit that early description never disappear or wane as the film progresses. Even in the final scene, Hinds comes off as somewhat aggressive and angry. Worse still, he lacks any chemistry with Morton. Jane's love for Mr. Rochester can be felt, through each one of Morton's fragile but deeply felt smiles, but Hinds never returns the same energy. It's unfortunate that the scenes of Jane contemplating her future while with St. John and Diane Rivers (Rupert Penry-Jones and Elizabeth Garfie) are almost more romantic than ones she actually shares with Edward. (Tyler Foster)

The Dallas Morning News reviews Glen Duncan's By Blood We Live:

For those upset fans, Duncan offers teasing hope: He might bring Jake back in a prequel or set of them, The Chronicles of Jacob Marlowe. He pondered the idea of Jake drinking tea with Robert Louis Stevenson, or having a tryst with all the Brontë sisters. “Wouldn’t the anarchy of that be just marvelous?” Duncan asks. (Joy Tipping)

The Gloss presents some literary T-shirts from Outofprintclothing:

Jane Eyre. Bitches get stuff done, and bitches look awesome in Charlotte Brontë-inspired outfits.
Wuthering Heights. If Charlotte doesn’t do it for you, represent Team Emily Brontë with this awesome t-shirt. (Hayley Hoover)

Chicago Tribune features The Salon's book club:

We loved: "One of Ours" by Cather, "Cousin Bette" by Balzac, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë.

YourTango lists a top ten of greatest love stories:

Wuthering Heights: A total eclipse of the heart.
In one of the oldest heart-wrenching classics in the "lost love can turn a good man evil" scenario, Emily Brontë’s novel takes us back to 1802 at the Wuthering Heights estate. In this timeless love story, our leading man Heathcliff grows to become best friends with his adopted sister, Catherine, his life-long crush. But an offhand comment, overheard at the Heights, changes the course of both of their lives.
Fun Fact: The 1983 Bonnie Tyler power ballad "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was inspired by Wuthering Heights. (Nicole)

The Canberra Times publishes an old picture of the Old Canberra House at the Australian National University and gets its Brontës mixed:

In the old photograph at the top of this column, this forbidding, deserted-looking mansion may be the windswept Yorkshire Moors' inspiration for Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. You can tell it's haunted. Perhaps, too, there's a mad, cackling relative locked in its west wing? (Ian Warden)

The Statesman (India) describes St Paul's School in Darjeeling:

The sylvan surrounds of St Paul’s School in Darjeeling are known for their thicket of Himalayan cypress trees that fringe an imposing hillock named Dawkins that was included in the campus in 1900. It is reminiscent of Emily Brontë’s description in Wuthering Heights and towers above the institution, keeping eternal vigil on a set-up that will soon be celebrating 150 years of its existence. (Deepak Rikhye)

Regarde en Coulisse interviews the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg who says:

C’est ce qui vous occupe le plus en ce moment ?
Au milieu de tout le reste ! (...) Mon ballet Wuthering Heights reprend l’année prochaine et j’en ai également un autre en projet. (Translation) (Stéphane Ly-Cuong)

Avanti! (Italy) takes a look to Wuthering Heights:

Cime Tempestose è uno dei romanzi, come lo definisce il Praz, “tra i più tumultuosamente romantici della letteratura inglese”, e ieri sera Rai Movie ne ha mandato in onda l’adattamento cinematografico del 1992, con Juliette Binoche e Ralph Fiennes. Già nel titolo sono contenute tutte le aspettative che diverranno presto stigmate di un poema che si nutre di intensa tragicità epica: le vicende di Catherine e di Heathcliff e del loro amore titanico vivono in simbiosi con l’esasperazione di una natura drammatica, segnata in modo irreversibile dagli elementi atmosferici e dall’asprezza nordica di brughiere tese a restituire il loro fascino poetico nella via diametralmente opposta all’inclinazione bucolico-pastorale. (Read more) (Translation) (Carlo Da Prato)

The Broke and the Bookish hosts the Top Ten Tuesday weekly meme. This week is devoted to Classical Novels and many blogs feature the Brontës: The Ladybug Reads..., all the books i can read and A Book so Fathomless (both featuring unusually The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Lynn's Book Blog, The Critiquing Critica, Thick Pages, The Magical Adventures of Cassie the Weird, etc...

Media2 (Poland) announces the screening of Wuthering Heights 2011 on Kino Polska; Wuthering Heights 1992 was screened last Sunday on Rai Movie, Panorama gives the ratings:

Wuthering Heights 388 mila spettatori e l’1,85%.

Teen Ink reviews Jane Eyre 1996. Confessions of a Readholic reviews Always Emily.