Leading a 75-lot Brontë collection sold by Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on July 10* was a set of two of the novels written by the sisters in the hugely productive years of 1846-47.
The sisters had struggled to find a publisher. Emily’s Wuthering Heights and Anne’s Agnes Grey, together with Charlotte’s The Professor, had all been declined by publishers in 1846, but then an opportunity arose, at least for Emily and Anne.
Thomas Cautley Newby offered to publish their novels if they could raise £50 to cover his expenses – a sum that would be repaid if and when sufficient copies were sold. Wuthering Heights filled two volumes of a familiar three-decker, and Agnes Grey the other volume.