# Is "Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell" by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë (Aylott and Jones, London, 1846) is identified by: London: Aylott and Jones, 8 Paternoster Row, 1846; published at the sisters' own expense, 1,000 copies printed. Aylott and Jones, London, 1846 is the true first and the census is correct.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- London: Aylott and Jones, 8 Paternoster Row, 1846; published at the sisters' own expense, 1,000 copies printed
- The first issue is identified by one thing only — the Aylott and Jones imprint on the title page
- Nothing else distinguishes the two issues, because Smith, Elder bought and reused the identical sheets and the identical binding cases: original olive-green cloth, blind-stamped on the boards, spine lettered in gilt, with a single-leaf advertisement at the rear
- An errata slip and a publisher's catalogue are present in some copies and absent from most, and neither is an issue point
- Charlotte contributed 19 poems and Emily and Anne 21 each, under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell
- Because the title leaf is the whole of the evidence, examine it for a stub or cancel
- Publisher imprint reads Aylott and Jones, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë |
| Publisher | Aylott and Jones, London |
| Year | 1846 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | London: Aylott and Jones, 8 Paternoster Row, 1846; published at the sisters' own expense, 1,000 copies printed |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
London: Aylott and Jones, 8 Paternoster Row, 1846; published at the sisters' own expense, 1,000 copies printed. The first issue is identified by one thing only — the Aylott and Jones imprint on the title page. Nothing else distinguishes the two issues, because Smith, Elder bought and reused the identical sheets and the identical binding cases: original olive-green cloth, blind-stamped on the boards, spine lettered in gilt, with a single-leaf advertisement at the rear. An errata slip and a publisher's catalogue are present in some copies and absent from most, and neither is an issue point. Charlotte contributed 19 poems and Emily and Anne 21 each, under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Because the title leaf is the whole of the evidence, examine it for a stub or cancel.

## Is this the true first?
Aylott and Jones, London, 1846 is the true first and the census is correct. No UK/US or foreign-language precedence question arises: this is the Brontës' first appearance in print, self-financed, and no authorised American edition preceded it. The 1848 Smith, Elder appearance is a reissue of the same 1846 sheets, not a new edition — bibliographically it is first edition, second issue, and should never be described as a second edition or as an 1848 book.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1848 Smith, Elder reissue is the trap, and it is a subtle one. After Jane Eyre made 'Currer Bell' famous, Smith, Elder bought the 961 unsold copies, sheets and cases from Aylott and Jones in September 1848 and put them out in October 1848 with a cancel title page — and that cancel title is still dated 1846. A copy in period olive cloth, dated 1846, reading Smith, Elder on the title is therefore the second issue, and it is what nearly every survivor is. Only 39 copies went out under the Aylott and Jones title: roughly fourteen to reviewers, two sold at retail (the famous figure), the balance given away by Charlotte to authors she admired; dealers describe the first issue as virtually unprocurable, with something on the order of ten copies traced. The '1846' on the title page is thus necessary and nowhere near sufficient — read the publisher's name, not the date.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell* by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/poems-by-currer-ellis-and-acton-bell
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.