Home

Thursday 20 July 2017

German Brontë falsifications part 2 - 
Inside German library catalogues

In some of the important German national and university libraries you can still
 find incorrect Brontë entries up to the present day. In the middle of the
19th century, novels of the Brontë sisters were extremely successful. It was therefore
 a great temptation for foreign editors (not only German) to find other
 anonymous English novels to translate and print them as a new ”Brontë” book. 

I found new interesting information about some Brontë titles in the 
old, so-called ”Quartkatalog” belonging to the Bavarian State Library (BSB). They 
are linked with the book titles on the respective online pages. It is absolutely 
fascinating seeing the old original handwritten book records and knowing that in
 those days the authors were researched and compiled with great care.

  Quartkatalog’s are handwritten catalogue cards in the format of 22 x 18 cm from
 the year of their acquisition, in 1841, to the year of publication in 1952. Books are 
here listed alphabetically based on the authors' name. Since the beginning of 
2004 they have been scanned as images to ease net research.

PART ONE



(all shown catalogue cards: Quartkatalog. Bayerische Landesbibliothek. BSB digital)

* note; Das englische Original ist nicht nachweisbar (the English original is not verifiable)

Die Geschwister (= Brother and Sister) / Acton Currer Bell 
[Pseud. für Charlotte Brontë]. 

Aus dem Englischen von L. Th. Fort
 Grimma und Leipzig: Verlags-Comptoir, 1851



First German lines:

„Es war ein kalter Märzabend; die Lampen in Sackville Street 
waren angezündet und warfen ihr bleiches, flackerndes Licht
 durch die Regentropfen.

These are the same first lines that in the original title are named “Ernest Vane”.

The author of the English original is well known since years and just now in 2016 this title got a new German edition:



The English original: