Poems

First issued in 1846 under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, this is the three sisters' joint volume of verse. Emily's and Anne's pieces draw on the Gondal cycle of invented kingdoms, prisons, exiles, and wintry moors; Charlotte's are more often conventional lyrics of loss, faith, and memory. Typical subjects are night, graves, liberty, and a speaker who endures rather than conquers. The volume remains a slim collection of short lyrics rather than a story, issued jointly before any of the sisters published a novel. It is a collaborative first book of verse, not a retelling of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights.

Quarter bound in black buckram, Rackenmarmor Swedish marbled paper boards, black buckram cover-label. Brown endleaves. Transparent plastic dust-jacket, no slipcase.