Rare Brontë first editions to go under the hammer

Fiona Evans

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

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.

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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.