Copy of Wuthering Heights sells for six figures
A rare first edition of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights has sold for £114,000 at Bonhams London auction house today, more than double the expected sale price.
The book, first published in 1847, was bought in the house by the antiquarian bookseller Robert Kirkman, on behalf of a an unnamed British client who is a keen collector of Brontë works. Only three copies of this edition have come up for auction in the last 35 years, according to Bonhams.
The book's previous owner, Anne Reid sold the novel in order to fund a long-held
ambition to become an artist. She was given the book as a child by her
grandfather after it had been in her family for four generations.
Wuthering Heights is the only novel Emily Brontë wrote and she never saw her name in print because the book - about a doomed love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff - was
first published under a male pseudonym, Ellis Bell, due to fears she would
face prejudice as a female writer.
The book, first published in 1847, was bought in the house by the antiquarian bookseller Robert Kirkman, on behalf of a an unnamed British client who is a keen collector of Brontë works. Only three copies of this edition have come up for auction in the last 35 years, according to Bonhams.
The book's previous owner, Anne Reid sold the novel in order to fund a long-held
ambition to become an artist. She was given the book as a child by her
grandfather after it had been in her family for four generations.
Wuthering Heights is the only novel Emily Brontë wrote and she never saw her name in print because the book - about a doomed love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff - was
first published under a male pseudonym, Ellis Bell, due to fears she would
face prejudice as a female writer.
It was only after her death from consumption in 1848, aged 30, that the novel's brilliance was recognised and it went on to become an English literary classic.
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