Rare Brontë first editions to go under the hammer

THREE rare first-edition copies of books by the Brontë sisters are set to fetch almost £200,000 when they go under the hammer this month.

By The Newsroom

Published 1st Oct 2010, 23:05 BST

The copy of Wuthering Heights in three volumes is expected to sell for as much as 75,000; a copy of Jane Eyre is valued at as much as 50,000 and a copy of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall could fetch between 60,000 and 70,000.

The Bront classics are among 149 books that have been put up for sale by a mystery collector and which could sell for about 3m at Sotheby's in London on October 28.

Dr Philip Errington, the firm's antiquarian books expert, said: "They are in absolutely stunning condition, as good and original as you are likely to get. I suspect that they will do extremely well."

The three-volume copy of Jane Eyre was once owned by a York woman named Mrs Elseley.

First editions are so highly-prized that Sotheby's in New York sold a copy of Jane Eyre for 59,366 in December 2004.