Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan before 1908.
1 item (340 p. with accompanying material, bound) ; 23.6 cm
High reserve.
The manuscript folios are numbered [1]-339 in Brontë's hand. Brontë wrote on the rectos of ff. 1-339 and the versos of f. 5 and 339; all other versos are blank.
The original title, "The Master," is visible beneath the piece of paper with the present title on it. Brontë pasted the present title over her original title.
The preface is in the handwriting of Arthur Bell Nicholls, Brontë's widower, and followed by this note: "The foregoing Preface was written by my wife with a view to the publication of 'The Professor' shortly after the appearance of 'Shirley'. Being dissuaded from her intention the authoress made some use of the materials in a subsequent work--'Villette'. As however these two stories are in most respects unlike, it has been represented to me that I ought not to withhold 'The Professor' from the Public. I have therefore consented to its publication." The note is signed by Nicholls and dated Sept. 22, 1856.
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan before 1908 from the London dealer J. Pearson & Co. The year of purchase has not been determined, but the manuscript is listed in a 1908 letter from Belle da Costa Greene to F. W. Wheeler of Pearson & Co., who had inquired about J. Pierpont Morgan's Brontë holdings, so it was in the collection by that date.
Blue cloth drop-spine box (25.5 cm)