Add MS 43480-43482

The autograph fair copy transcribed in 1852, vol. VII, f. 1 being dated 29 Mar. 1852, and sent to the printers. First published, in 3 vols., On 28 Jan. 1853 as Villette. By Currer Bell, Author of 'Jane Eyre', 'Shirley', etc. The manuscript, like those of the two preceding novels, was originally in one volume, the folios being numbered consecutively throughout, viz. 1-272 (=vol. VII), 273-546 (=vol. VIII), and 546 (lower portion of page)-847 (=vol. IX), and the chapters being similarly treated (vol. VIII opens with the original chap. 17 and vol. IX with chap. 30). Many pages have been mutilated, and a memorandum on the flyleaf (f. 1), dated 22 Dec. 1896, notes those in vol. VII and records the fact that the original f. 216 was missing at that date. Verbal alterations (some in pencil, e.g., vol. VIII, f. 237) are numerous and several chapter-titles were altered: thus, in vol. VIII the original title of chap. 17, 'La Terrasse', was replaced by 'Auld Langsyne' and transferred to chap. 18, the original title of which, 'The Second Evening', is deleted; this may be connected with the fact that the first printed volume was presumably intended to end with chap. 17 (see f. 24, ad fin.). In vol. IX 'Fraternity', in pencil, is substituted for 'Fraternal Covenant' at the head of chap. 37. Chap. 38 is entitled 'Malign Aspect' ('Apple of Discord' in the printed edition). A number of titles throughout have been added in pencil (e.g. vol. VIII, chaps. 25, 26, 27). Chap. 41 has no title at all. As elsewhere in these MSS. the signatures and first-leaf numbers of the gatherings of the printed text are (with some omissions) indicated throughout. In vol. IX, ff. 609 (lower portion), the whole of 610-616, and upper part of 617 (by original foliation) are missing, but the text runs on as in the printed version; in the same volume a portion of the original f. 633 has been misplaced between ff. 770 and 771 (see printed text pp. go-gi). The character Lucy Snowe was originally named Lucy Frost (see, e.g., vol.VII, f. 48; vol. VIII, f. 21). Paper. Three volumes. Quarto. A.D. 1852. The MS. is referred to in T. J. Wise, A Bibliography ... of the Bronte Family, 1917, p. 33, as in the possession of Mrs Reginald Smith (daughter-in-law of George Smith).