Maroon cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

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•          Note: This book carries a £5.00 discount to those that subscribe to the F.B.A. mailing list

Please view our photographs for conditions. This is a pocket-sized copy of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, published by Collins Clear-Type Press (London & Glasgow). This is a volume from the popular Collins’ Illustrated Pocket Editions or Library of Classics series. 

Book Breakdown & Context

• The Era: While these affordable classic editions were typically undated, the design, thin paper, and branding strongly date them to the Edwardian era, specifically circa 1903–1915. 
• The Publisher: Collins Clear-Type Press was famous for using a specialized, highly legible typeface designed to make dense text easy to read in a small, portable format. 
• The Format: The measurements (4.4″ x 6.4″) confirm this is a classic “pocket book,” typically bound in either maroon/navy cloth or a flexible leatherette with gilt (gold) lettering on the spine. 

Estimated Market Value

Because Collins mass-produced these books so that the general public could afford the classics, they are quite common today. They are highly collected for their vintage aesthetic rather than raw rarity.

In “Good” condition (meaning a solid binding, no missing pages, but displaying normal shelf wear, slight spine fading, or minor page toning), a single copy generally holds a retail value of £15 to £30 

Jane Eyre ( originally published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography) is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name “Currer Bell” on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first American edition was published in January 1848 by Harper & Brothers of New York] Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman that follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.

The novel revolutionised prose fiction, being the first to focus on the moral and spiritual development of its protagonist through an intimate first-person narrative, where actions and events are coloured by a psychological intensity. Literary critic Daniel S. Burt has called Charlotte Brontë “the first historian of the private consciousness” and the literary ancestor of writers such as Marcel Proust and James Joyce.

The book contains elements of social criticism with a strong sense of Christian morality at its core, and it is considered by many to be ahead of its time because of Jane’s individualistic character and how the novel approaches the topics of class, sexuality, religion and feminism. Jane Eyre, along with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, is one of the most famous romance novels. It is considered one of the greatest novels in the English language, and in 2003 was ranked as the tenth best-loved book in Britain by the BBC in The Big Read poll.