Skip to content

No image available
No image available

Wuthering Heights (Classics in Large Print) Unknown - 1980

by Bronte, Emily


About this book

Wuthering Heights, the only book written by Emily Brontë, and originally published in 1847 by Thomas Cautley Newby under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, is a classic work of English literature. The Brontë sisters are known for classical and important literature, such as Jane Eyre (by Charlotte Brontë) and Agnes Grey (by Anne Brontë). 

The first edition of Wuthering Heights was first published in three volumes, the first two composed of Wuthering Heights, with the third volume containing Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey. The second edition of Wuthering Heights was edited by Charlotte Brontë and published in 1850. Emily Brontë herself died in 1848 at the age of 30 from tuberculosis.

 In the first American edition, published by Harpers & Brothers in 1848, the authorship of Wuthering Heights was mistakenly attributed to Charlotte Brontë on the title page, which stated: ‘by the author of Jane Eyre.’ 

The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors on which the story centers (as an adjective, Wuthering is a Yorkshire word referring to turbulent weather). The work was deeply controversial at the time of publication because it challenged long-held perceptions of class, religion, morality, and the position of women in society. Additionally, the novel contains vivid descriptions of violence. The novel follows the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights, a house on the wild moors of England, and it’s owner, Healthcliffe, on a tragic and compelling story of love and revenge


First Edition Identification

The first edition Wuthering Heights was written under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It was published by Thomas Cautley Newby, London, in December 1847. This first printing was a three-volume set - Wuthering Heights occupying the first two volumes, the third including Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

In 1850 a second edition was published by WS Williams, edited by Charlotte Bronte.

The first American edition of Wuthering Heights was published in 1848 by Harpers & Brothers, New York. The title page of this first edition misattributed the book to Charlotte Brontë and noting ‘By the author of Jane Eyre.'

Details

  • Title Wuthering Heights (Classics in Large Print)
  • Author Bronte, Emily
  • Binding unknown
  • Publisher G K Hall & Co
  • Date 1980-06
  • ISBN 9780816130740

About the author

Emily Bront (1818-1848) was the second-youngest child of the Bront family, who held the parsonage of the town of Haworth, England. Together with her siblings, Charlotte, Branwell, and Anne, Bront wrote fantastical stories and poems. The three sisters published poems and novels under the names Currer, Acton, and Ellis Bell. Wuthering Heights was published in 1847; Bront died a year later of tuberculosis, and the true authorship of Wuthering Heights was not revealed until the publication of the second edition in 1850.