Annotated Bibliography & Archives

(Bibliographies arranged alphabetically by author)

 
Brontë historiography

Alexander, Christine and Jane Sellars, The Art of the Brontës (Cambridge Univer­sity Press 1995).
Includes drawings Charlotte and Emily made during their stay in Brussels with some interesting remarks.

Anon, "An Unpublished Letter by Charlotte Brontë," in: Transactions (Vol.15, nr. 2, 1967) pp. 123-5. On the last two pages a facsimile of the letter to one of her former pupils at the Pensionnat is given.

Anon, “Vagabondizing in Belgium,” in Harper´s New Monthly Magazine (Vol. 17, issue 99, August 1858) pp. 323-336. The first account of a visit to the Pensionnat, on pages 335-6 of this article, and a very nice drawing of the garden of the Pensionnat on the opening page.
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABK4014-0017-45

Anon, “Charlotte Brontë and Brussels,” in The Observer Budget  (18 June 1910).
A short but interesting article about the “impending disappearance of the Pensionnat”.
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, The Pensionnat Revisited. More light shed on the Brussels of the Brontës (Dutch Archives, Leiden 2003) pp. 17-18.

Anon., "After the Brontës. Life in the Pensionnat Heger," in: The Times (17 August 1933).

Anon, “Brontë Exhibition in Brussels,” in The Times (23 March 1953) p. 5.
A short article about an exhibtion at the Musée Charlier.

Anon., "A Plaque is Unveiled in Brussels to Commemorate the Stay of Charlotte and Emily Brontë at the Pensionnat Heger," in: Transactions (Vol. 17, nr. 5, 1980) pp. 371-4, ill.. With a photograph of the plaque.
These two articles were written after a plaque finally had been unveiled, on 26 June 1980.

Anon., 'Charlotte Brontë's School,' in: The World (London, December 10, 1890) pp. 33-4.
The third account of a visit to the Pensionnat and Charlotte's Brussels.
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, Charlotte Bronte´s Promised Land. The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë  places in Brussels (Brontë Society, 2000) pp. 67-69.

Barker, Juliet, The Brontës (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London 1994).  
A very good scholarly family biography.

Blyth, Derek, “Walk 6. Charlotte Brontë and the Royal Quarter. Place Royale to the Botanique,” in Brussels for Pleasure. Thirteen Walks through the Historic City (Trafalgar Square, 2003) pp. 191-209.

Brown, Lilian Rowland, "Charlotte Brontë and Belgium," in: Nineteenth Century and After 79 (April 1916) pp. 847-60.
Written in the light of the new bond between Britain and Belgium in the First World War.

Busch, Selina, Brussels in Brontë Times. A Historic Picture Album (Culemborg, 2005)
Limited edition.
“This attractively produced volume should be studied in conjunction with the two earlier books on Brussels by Eric Ruijssenaars …. Selina Busch has now provided a visual representation of the Brussels which Eric Ruijssenaars has so meticulously recreated.  All Brontë students have cause to be grateful to both of them for so vividly bringing to life the city which Charlotte and Emily would have known.” Dudley Green, in Brontë Studies (Vol. 30, pt. 3, Nov. 2005) p. 269.

Chadwick, Ellis H., In the Footsteps of the Brontës (London, Pitman, 1914) pp. 199-230, 400-9, ill.. Reprinted in 1971.
Some good chapters on Charlotte's Brussels. Con­tains also a copy of the prospec­tus of the "Maison d'éduca­tion pour les jeunes demoiselles, sous la direction de Madame Heger-Parent," a reprint of two articles on M. and Mme. Heger (see Heger historiograp­hy), photographs of Miss Frances Wheel­wright and Mdlle. de Bassom­pière, a letter from Mme. Heger to Laeti­tia Wheelwright (dated 21-9-1842) and a very speculative chapter about a third visit of Charlotte to Brussels in 1850.
Mrs. Chadwick knew Paul Heger, Frances Wheelwright, the Jenkin­ses and Mlle. de Bassompière personally.

Chadwick, Esther Alice, (Mrs. Ellis Chadwick), "A Gift from M. le Professeur Constantin Heger to Charlotte Brontë," in: The Nineteenth Century (April 1917) pp. 846-61.
Contains the text of the "Discours prononcé par M. le profes­seur Constantin Heger, à la distibution des prix de l'Athénée Royal de Bruxelles, le 16 août 1843," and a "Résumé du dis­cours prononcé par M. le Professeur Constantin Heger à la distribu­tion des Prix de l'Athénée royal de Bruxelles, le 15 Août 1834." Mrs. Chadwick has in fact dated them wrongly the other way round.

Chapple, J.A.V. and Arthur Pollard eds., The Letters of Mrs. Gaskell (Manchester 1966).
Contains interesting material about the making of The Life, but little about Brussels.

Chapple, J.A.V., "A Sense of Place: Elizabeth Gaskell and the Brontës," in: Transac­tions (Vol. 20, pt. 6, 1992) pp. 313-28.
A facsimile of a letter from Mrs. Gaskell to Laetitia Wheel­wright, making enqui­ries, is reproduced on the frontispiece of Transactions, vol. 5, pt xxvi, 1916.

Charlier, Gustave, "La Vie Bruxelloise dans Villette," in: Revue de l'Université de Bruxelles (May/June/Ju­ly 1933) pp. 383-404. Reprinted in Passages (Brussels 1947), a collection of essays by Charlier. A first shortened translation appeared as "The Brus­sels Life in Villet­te," in: The Contempo­rary Review (Novem­ber 1933) pp. 568-74. A second shorte­ned trans­lation by Ph. Bentley, "Brussels life in "Vil­lette." A visit to the Salon in 1842," was published in: Transactions  (vol. 12, nr. 5, 1955) pp. 386-90.  
It is a pity the whole article has never been translated into English. See 'Cultural events'.

Clark-Beatttie, Rosemary, "Fables of Rebellion: Anti-Catholi­cism and the Structu­re of Villette," in: A Journal of English Literary History (Vol. 53, nr. 2, Summer 1986) pp. 821-47.

Cory, Charlotte, "Seeing Brussels as the Brontës saw it," in: The Bulletin. The Newsweek­ly of the Capital of Europe, April 16, 1993, pp. 34-5.
Written on the occasion of the first ever Brontë Society Excursion to Brussels in its 100 years of existence. The author "discovered that the Brussels of the Brontës was still there."  

Cumberland, Gerald, "Charlotte Brontë's Street in Brussels Today," in: Cornhill Magazine (n.s. Vol. 30, May 1911) pp. 604-9.
The author (1879-1926) paid a visit to the Pensionnat when most of the quarter had already been demolished, presuma­bly about a year before the publication of this article. He was one of the very last Brontë pilgrims to have entered the buil­ding.
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, Charlotte Bronte´s Promised Land. The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë  places in Brussels (Brontë Society, 2000) pp. 84-86.

Cumberland, Gerald, “Charlotte Brontë´s Love. New light on an old theme,” in Daily Citizen (2 August 1913.
Partly reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, The Pensionnat Revisited. More light shed on the Brussels of the Brontës (Dutch Archives, Leiden 2003) pp. 59.
In which he gives another account of his visit.

Dunbar, George S., "Proper Names in Villette," in: Nineteenth Century Fiction (Vol. 15, nr. 1, June 1960) pp. 77-80.
Explanations for Charlotte's choice of names.

Duthie, Enid L., " Charlotte Brontë and Constantin Heger," in: Contemporary Review 187 (March 1955) pp. 169-73.

Duthie, Enid L., The foreign vision of Charlotte Brontë (Mac­Millan 1975) pp. 82-104 and 164-7.
'Foreign settings in the novels' and 'Foreign life and charac­ters in the novels.'

Field, W.T., "Two Brussels Schoolfellows of Charlotte Brontë," in: Transactions (Vol. 5, pt. xxiii, 1913) pp. 25-9, as well as the frontispiece of this part which shows photo­graphs of Laetitia and Frances Wheelwright and Mlle. de Bassompiere.

Gérin, Winifred, Charlotte Brontë. The evolution of genius (Oxford 1967) pp. 186-203, ill..
A very good chapter on Brussels.

Gaskell, E. C., The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857).

Green, Joseph J., "The Brontë-Wheelwright Friendship," in: Friends' Quarterly Examiner: A Religious, Social and Miscella­neous Review 50 (November 1916) pp. 104-23 and 220-40.  
This article dwells on the friendship between Charlotte and the Wheelwrights and gives reprints of a number of letters, from Charlotte, Mme. Heger and Mrs. Gaskell to Laetitia, from the Wheelwrights to Mr. Shorter and to the author and a good deal of other useful information on 'Brussels.'

Harding Davis, Rebecca, “The Love Story of Charlotte Brontë. The Hero of Villette,” in Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia, 13 January 1906).
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, The Pensionnat Revisited. More light shed on the Brussels of the Brontës (Dutch Archives, Leiden 2003) pp. 55-58.
An account of a visit to the Pensonnat in 1891.

Harland, Marion, "In Villette," in: Where Ghosts Walk. The Haunts of Familiar Characters in History and Literature (Lon­don and New York 1898) pp. 279-97.
Another pilgrimage report. All of them are of course very interesting and one wishes more had been written at the time. This lady's real name was Mary Virginia Hawes Terhune which can cause some confusion.
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, Charlotte Bronte´s Promised Land. The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë  places in Brussels (Brontë Society, 2000) pp. 79-83.
Of some interest is her article in The North American Review of April 1890 (Vol. 150, isue 401, pp. 527-529):
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0150-51

Harper, Janet, "Charlotte Brontë's Heger Family and Their School," in: Blackwood's Magazine 191 (Edinburgh, April 1912) pp. 461-9.
Reminiscences of (apparently) an ex-pupil.
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, Charlotte Bronte´s Promised Land. The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë  places in Brussels (Brontë Society, 2000) pp. 87-92.

Higuchi, Akiko, "Concert at the Fête in Villette," in: Trans­actions (Vol. 20, pt.5, 1992) pp. 273-283.
About the identification of the actual concert in the Park.

Higuchi, Akiko, The Brontës World of Music.  Music in the Seven Novels of the three Brontë Sisters (Yushodo Press, Tokyo 2005.
See especially Chapters 5 and 6, on the music in Villette and The Professor, in which she also describes places in Brussels and events. With illustrations.

de Knevett, Edgar, "Charlotte Brontë's School in Brussels," in: Transactions (Vol. 6, nr. xxxiii, 1923) pp. 129-34.
The author was the first person in Brontë historiography who saw M. Tahon's La Rue Isabelle, 11 years after that book was published. This article is more or less a review of that book.

Lemon, Charles, "The Origins of Ginevra Fanshawe," in: Trans­actions (Vol. 16, pt. 81, 1971) p. 15.
Suggests that Ginevra Fanshawe was based on Susanna Rodway Mills, also a pupil at the Pensionnat.

Macdonald, Frederika, "The Brontës at Brussels," in: The Woman at Home (July 1894, Vol. II, No. 10) pp. 279-91, ill..
The first good article on the history of the quarter, written by an ex-pupil of the Pension­nat.
Note. In a bibliography in the 1897 Transactions a review of this article, in The Critic (Vol. 25, 1894, p. 29) is wrongly listed as a publication of its own on Brussels. 
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, Charlotte Bronte´s Promised Land. The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë  places in Brussels (Brontë Society, 2000) pp. 70-78

Macdonald, Frederika, "Monsieur Heger," in: The Bookman (June 1896) p. 78.
An obituary.

Macdonald, Frederika, The Secret of Charlotte Brontë / Follo­wed by Some Reminis­cences of the Real Monsieur and Madame Heger (London 1914) 263 pp., ill..
The first part of this book is about 'Charlotte Brontë's letters to M. Heger,' ("These letters supply the Key to the Secret of Charlotte Brontë"). 'Part II' gives the very inte­resting reminiscences. This was for a long time  the only book to have been published solely on the Brontës and Brussels. Yet, it gives remarkably little information on the places in the novels. Chapter II of Part II, 'My first introduc­tion to Charlotte Brontë's professor'  was first published in the Cornhill Magazi­ne (Vol. 35, n.s., 1913) pp. 519-33.

“M.B.-E.”, “Brussels, August 28. – I have just spent an hour amid the scenes of Charlotte Brontë´s great novel ´Villette,´” in Westminster Gazette (4 September 1899).
Partly reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, The Pensionnat Revisited. More light shed on the Brussels of the Brontës (Dutch Archives, Leiden 2003) pp. 54.

O'Byrne, Cathal, "Charlotte Brontë Goes to Confession," in: Blackfriars 12 (August 1931) pp. 484-8. Reprinted in her The Gaelic Source of the Brontë Genius (Sands & Co, 1933) which was reprin­ted in 1970.
On Charlotte's attitude to religion, and her going to confes­sion in the St. Gudule. Includes a reprint of the letter she wrote to Emily about it.

Pinion, F.B., "Appendix 3. The Carré of the Pensionnat in The Professor and Villette," in: A Brontë companion. Literary Asses­sment, Background and Reference (New York 1975, (original­ly MacMillan 1975)) pp. 374-6. Also useful are pp. 268-71, 332-8 and ill. page 21.

Quarm, Joan, "In Search of Villette: A Journey to Brussels, 1982," in: Nova. The University of Texas at El Paso Magazine (November 1983) pp. 8-12, ill..
A very disappointing article by an apparently distinguished scholar from Texas.

'Rambler', "Brontë, Multatuli and the Others," in: The Bulle­tin. The Newsweekly of the Capital of Europe, April 22, 1993, p. 36.
About the disregard of Brussels towards its (literary) monu­ments.

Raymond, Ernest, In the Steps of the Brontës (London, Rich and Cowan, 1948, 324 pp.). Reprinted in 1971.
Mr. Raymond was one of the last to visit the quarter before it was finally completely demolished. Otherwise the title says it all.

Reminiscinces of Mrs. Louise Heymann and her sister Mrs. Trevor Hankey, ex-pupils, "prompted ... by Mr. M.H. Spiel­mann's recent article in The Times on Mlle. [Louise] Heger who died in July at the age of 94."

Rhodes, Margaret G., "Where are the Letters?" in: Transacti­ons (Vol. 15, nr.3, 1968) pp. 250-1.
The author suggests Charlotte buried letters of M. Heger somewhere on the moors.
Corrigan, Eileen M., "Charlotte Brontë's Brussels: Does Anyt­hing Remain?," in: Transactions (Vol. 15, nr. 5, 1970) pp. 421-3.
"The answer is yes," is the opening line. "Tread softly, Traveller."

Ruijssenaars, Eric, Charlotte Bronte´s Promised Land. The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë  places in Brussels (Brontë Society, 2000).

Ruijssenaars, Eric, The Pensionnat Revisited. More light shed on the Brussels of the Brontes (Dutch  Archives, L eiden 2003).

Ruijssenaars, Eric, The Tahon Photograph Redated, in Brontë Studies (Vol. 30, pt. 1, March 2005) pp. 61-65.
This article is a rewritten version of one of the chapters of The Pensionnat Revisited. Evidence shows the photograph was not taken in 1909, as Tahon stated, but more than fifty years earlier, with the pensionnat exactly what it looked like when Charlotte was there in 1843.

Shorter, Clement, The Brontës and Their Circle (London, J.M. Dent & Sons, 1914) 476 pp., revised edition, first published in 1896 as Charlotte Brontë and her circle (Hodder and Stough­ton).
A good combination of the 'life and letters.' Especially of interest is Chapter IV, 'The Pensionnat Heger, Brussels' (pp. 81-110). The Brussels chapter in 1914 is a much improved version of the 1896 and 1908 ones (see below). It is a good thing that without too much difficulty and quite cheap­ly at that the 1914 book can still be bought in second-hand books­hops. I have found two slightly different 1914 editions. Shorter (1857-1926) did also visit the Pensionnat.

Shorter, Clement, "New Light on the Brontës," in: Transactions (Vol. 1, pt. viii, 1898) pp. 13.
A short account of his visit to the Pensionnat, some years earlier.

Shorter, Clement, The Brontës. Life and letters (Hodder and Stoughton, London 1908, 2 vols.).
"Being an attempt to present a full and final record of the lives of the three sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë from the biographies of Mrs. Gaskell and others, and from numerous hitherto unpublished manuscripts and letters."
The chapter on Brussels is merely a reprint of the Brussels chapter in Shorter's Charlotte Brontë and her circle (see above).

Smith, Margaret, ed., The Letters of Charlotte Brontë. Volume I, 1829-1847 (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1995).
The excellent edition of the letters.

Spielmann, Marion H., "A Great Heart's Tragedy," in: Daily News and Leader (31 July 1913).

Spielmann, Marion H, 'Charlotte Brontë in Brussels.'
This article has been published in two different versions, notably as "Charlotte Brontë in Brussels. A nursery of genius. New light on the novels," in: The Times Literary Supplement, April 13, 1916) pp. 177-8. And as "Charlotte Brontë in Brus­sels," in: Butler Wood ed., Char­lotte Brontë 1816-1916. A Centenary Memo­rial (London 1917) pp. 81-109. The latter versi­on claims to have "numerous emen­dati­ons and additions" (p. 83) but these are hard to discover. In fact, the article is much weakened by the fact that a most interesting plan of the Quartier Isa­belle, based on a drawing by Louise Heger was left out of the book.
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, Charlotte Bronte´s Promised Land. The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë  places in Brussels (Brontë Society, 2000) pp. 93-101.

Spielmann, Marion H., The Inner History of the Brontë-Heger Letters (London 1919) 7pp.. In that same year also published in: Fortnightly Review 111, pp. 599-605.
Useful knowledge concerning the history of (the publication of) the letters.

Spielmann, Percy E., "The Brontë - Heger Mystery. A Step towards its Solution," in: Transactions (Vol. X, pt. 55, 1945) pp. 284-5.
A bit of speculation on the degree of affection felt by Char­lotte for M. Heger by Spielmann's son.

Stevens, Joan, "A Note on Mossmans," in: Trans­actions (Vol. 16, pt. 81, 1971) pp. 47-50.
About the connections between the Belgian Mossmans family, the Brontës, the Taylors and the Dixons.

Stevens, Joan ed., Mary Taylor. Friend of Charlotte Brontë. Letters from New Zealand and elsewhere (Auckland/Oxford 1972).
Apart from editing a very useful edition of Mary Taylor's let­ters, Mrs. Stevens has done good research on 'the identity of the chateau de Koekelberg' (see 'Other places in Brussels.') On page 145 there is a painting of the chateau. Contains also extensive genealogical details about the Taylors, the Dixons and the Nusseys who it appears were all related to each other.

Tordeur, J., "Souvenir: le Séjour Bruxellois des Soeurs Brontë Évoqué sur un Mur du Palais des Beaux-Arts," in: Le Soir (29/30 June 1980), ill..

Trafton, Adeline, "A Visit to Charlotte Brontë's School in Brussels," in: Scribner's Monthly 3 (New York, December 1871) pp. 186-8.
Reprinted in: Literary Budget (London, 13 January 1872) pp. 229-30.
The first report from a Brontë-pilgrim.
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, Charlotte Bronte´s Promised Land. The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë  places in Brussels (Brontë Society, 2000) pp. 58-60.
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABP7664-0003-34

Wallace, Robert K., "Emily Brontë and Music: Haworth, Brussels and Beethoven," in: Transactions (Vol. 18, pt. 92, 1982) pp. 136-42.
On Emily as a piano-player, the possible influence of Beetho­ven, Liszt and other composers on her writings and the con­certs she may have visited in Brussels.  
Here also should be noted the 1979 lp-record named: 'A musical evening with the Brontë family. A selection from the family music albums played on period pianos by Alan Cuckston' (Swin­sty Records FEW 01).

Wolfe, Theodore, "Scenes of Charlotte Bronté's [sic] Life in Brussels," in: Lippin­cott's Magazine  (Philadelphia, December 1886), pp. 542-8.
Reprinted in his A Literary Pilgrimage among the Haunts of famous British Authors (Philadelphia-London 1895.)
The second one.
Reprinted in: Ruijssenaars, Eric, Charlotte Bronte´s Promised Land. The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë  places in Brussels (Brontë Society, 2000) pp. 61-66.

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