As has been mentioned, the Brontës' reputation has been damaged over the years by both the well-meaning (Gaskell) and the unscrupulous (Thomas J. Wise), but as regards Emily and Anne, no one, perhaps, has had more of an impact than Charlotte herself. Soon after their deaths, when the second edition of Emily and Anne's works were published jointly, Charlotte began her long campaign of suppressing Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Its violence and frank depictions of depravity had caused a scandal, and it seems that Charlotte felt much the same as the general public, calling it a "mistake." She refused to allow it to be republished and actively tried to erase all memory of it. Also, it seems, in editing some subsequent editions of Emily and Anne's poetry, Charlotte deliberately changed lines, and even inserted entire stanzas on her own in order, she hoped, that the poems would better exemplify her sisters' minds and thoughts to the Victorian reading public.

In the summer of 1850, she set herself the task of going through her sisters' papers, and, in the process, wound up destroying vast amounts of their writings, including probably almost all of their existing letters, all of the juvenilia relating to their fictional realm of Gondal and perhaps even some unfinished or unpublished novels they had written. She later wrote in a letter that she did this to protect the authors, and there is no reason to doubt this, but in so doing, she was condemning them largely to eternal silence. We get only the slightest glimpse of these shadowy figures from the few fragments of paper that survive written in their hand. The legacies of Charlotte and Branwell are, thankfully, much more intact.

All of the novels are currently in print and readily available in a bewildering variety of editions. Penguin's editions, in particular, are all very strong. But what of the lesser works- the poems, juvenilia, and unfinished novels? The following list is intended to direct the reader to the definitive editions of these works. Almost all of the titles listed here are reworkings of earlier faulty editions, including the twenty volume Shakespeare Head Brontë co-edited by Thomas J. Wise, long considered the definitive edition of the Brontës' work, but which has since been shown to be full of omissions and, at times, deliberate fraud.

The Belgian Essays. ed. Sue Lonoff. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996.

This beautiful edition presents what survives of Emily and Charlotte's schoolwork under the French teach Constantin Heger in Brussels written in the years 1842-1843. The essays are in French, with the editor's English translations on the facing page.

The Complete Poems of Emily Brontë, Edited by C. W. Hatfield. ed. Irene Taylor. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

A new edition of Hatfield's 1923 definitive edition of Emily's poems. Hatfield's edition was a triumph, the result of over twenty years of work in sorting out textual inconsistencies and false attributions among the sisters. The result is one of the great contributions to Brontë scholarship which restored to Emily her rightful place as not only one of the English language's strongest novelists, but also one of its best poets. (not available in the UNC libraries)

Cottage Poems and the Rural Minstrel, by Patrick Brontë. ed. Donald Reiman. New York: Garland, 1977.

Facsimile edition of poetrical works by the Brontës' father, Patrick, who was a published author in his own right. These were published before his daughters were born, shortly after his university career. This text is of primary interest to Brontë scholars because because of the unique insight into the mind of the man who was surely the most singularly important artistic influence on the Brontës themselves.

Early Writings of Charlotte Brontë. ed. Christine Alexander. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1983.

The definitive reworking of Charlotte's stories and poems about the fictional world of Angria, which she created with her brother when they were children, but about which she continued to write into adulthood. This edition attempts to resurrect the juvenilia from the damage caused to it by the literary fraud Thomas J. Wise.

Letters of Charlotte Brontë. ed. Margaret Smith. Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1995.

Masterful two-volume edition of all extant letters written by and written to Charlotte Brontë. This edition corrects many of the errors and restores omissions introduced into the Brontë canon in the 1885-1889 editions of the letters by Horsfall Turner.

Poems of Anne Brontë. ed. Edward Chitham. Totowa, NJ: Rowan and Littlefield, 1979.

The definitive edition of Anne's poems, which corrects Thomas Wise's errors in attributing some of Emily's poems to Anne and vice versa. Many textual errors which had crept into the poetry over the years are jettisoned. This book also includes a very good bibliography of publication history and criticism relating specifically to Anne.

Poems of Charlotte Brontë. ed. Victor Neufeldt. New York: Garland, 1985.

The definitive edition of Charlotte's poems. More than any other of the Brontës' works, Charlotte's poems have suffered from their publication history. Manipulated by virtually every editor who worked with them over the years (including Charlotte's husband, Arthur Bell Nichols, who edited his own edition before his death), this annotated edition attributes a total of 206 poems to Charlotte; Wise's Shakespeare Head edition included only 141.

Poems of Emily Brontë. ed. Derek Roper and Edward Chitham. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1995.

Recent authoritative edition of Emily's poetry, co-edited by the editor of the definitive edition pf Anne's poems.

Unfinished Novels of Charlotte Brontë. Dover, NH: A. Sutton Publishing, 1995.

Collects in one volume some of Charlotte's unfinished longer works, which are generally difficult to find, including The Story of Willie Ellin, Ashworth, The Moores, and the novel Emma which she was working on finishing when she died.

Works of Patrick Branwell Brontë. ed. Victor Neufeldt. New York: Garland, 1997.

A two-volume edition of Branwell's complete works, including the juvenilia, unfinished longer works and poems by the editor of the definitive edition of Charlotte's poems. The author includes annotation and a cumulative bibliography of scholarship on Branwell.

Link to Davis Library's catalog

Link to UNC's Rare Book Collection

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