From My Collection...
Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1939) Grosset & Dunlap
Emily Jane Brontë's Wuthering Heights
Grosset & Dunlap: New York • 1939 I just added a near mint condition movie tie-in of Wuthering Heights to my collection and thought it might be fun to occasionally share my library with my readers.
So, welcome to the first, “From My Collection” post…
In 1939 United Artists released the Samuel Goldwyn production, Wuthering Heights, starring Merle Oberon in the role of Catherine and Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff.
Grosset & Dunlap reissued Wuthering Heights with bright orange boards and a yellow and orange-trimmed jacket, which details the film’s cast below the declaration:
A THRILLING MOTION PICTURE BREATHES LIFE
INTO THESE FAMOUS EMILY BRONTË CHARACTERS
You may be asking yourself, “Who’s Hudkins?” Yea, not one of Emily Jane Brontë’s famous characters. Not one of her characters at all. Miss Hudkins was a character in the film, not the book. Helena Grant, the British actress who played party guest Miss Hudkins, was uncredited in the film. Curious, isn’t it, that she rated a mention on the book jacket. Perhaps she was dating someone at Grosset & Dunlap?
Other fun details about this edition include its front flap content:
Into this story of the wild moors of the north of England, Emily Brontë poured all the fire and spirit of her genius.
It is a story of unbridled passions and violent aversions over which broods “a horror of great darkness.” Of the characters, Heathcliff, with his mysterious origin, his vengefulness and the terrible quality of his cruelty; and Catherine, the girl that he loved, whose strange beauty dominated him are the most fascinating.
It is the house itself, however, which is the greatest character. Under its brooding shadows it assumes almost a human visage from the passions which rage beneath its roof.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS is a book that puzzles, bewilders, and leaves one shaken and breathless by its spectacle of terror and pity. Yet it is one to which the world will always bow in recognition of a powerful genius.
I love Wuthering Heights, but I cannot say it ever left me shaken and breathless. Maybe the editors assume we’re picking up a copy of the novel after seeing Laurence Olivier?
He could leave me breathless. He’s terribly handsome, is he not? Speaking of picking up a copy of the novel, this hardcover edition has a foil sticker from Hudson’s Book Shop adhered inside its back cover. The downtown Detroit book shop (which opened in the 1890s!) operated inside J. L. Hudson’s Department Store—don’t you love those little stickers which tell you where your book began its journey?
Isn’t it amazing to imagine that someone purchased this book in 1939 in Michigan and took wonderful care of it, so it may one day find its way into my Pennsylvania collection?
Another tidbit—ephemera worth noting: a bookmark. When I received this edition of Wuthering Heights—from a collector in Maine—it included a surprise—a promotional movie tie-in bookmark from the Toledo Public Library!
Isn’t it brilliant? Look at Heathcliff! Clutching Catherine like some menacing rake…and that quote:
She belongs to ME only her arms can hold my love ..my hate ..my torment.
What?! It so possessive and absurd. I love it! Only her arms can hold his love, his hate and his torment. What does that even mean?
Wuthering Heights was released by United Artists across the US on either 7 April or 13 April in 1939. In Toledo, Ohio the film premiered on Thursday 13 April at a popular opera house-turned cinema called the Loew’s Valentine on St. Clair Street.
When Wuthering Heights was released, the Toledo Public Library was still located on Ontario Street and Madison Avenue in a castle-like Richardson Romanesque Revival style structure, which was popular in America at the time of its construction in 1890.
In April 1939, the library had just broken ground on the building they are renowned for today—the Art Deco structure located at 325 Michigan Street. It is such a lovely space, Toledoans are fortunate to have it!
I suppose you are wondering about the book, aren’t you? Well, the book is pretty standard. The only aspect of the book that makes it a movie tie-in is its jacket.
Unlike my 1939 Collins movie tie-in which includes photograph stills from the film, this one includes no photographs or illustrations, only text.
It would have sold for 75 cents (US) and is an unabridged copy of Wuthering Heights.
As I mentioned above, the boards are bright orange. Orange was a popular choice for inexpensively produced hardcover fiction. Only the top edges are sprayed black. This, too, was a popular choice in publishing. Colored top edges seal porous paper and aid in repelling dust. Low paper quality (especially during the depression years) was also disguised by staining the visible top edges.
Somewhere along the way, an owner or collector added a Demco® Paperfold™ book jacket cover—likely, that is why it remains in great condition!
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my collection. My personal library contains over fifty editions of Wuthering Heights as well as biographies and analyses/criticism related to Emily Jane Brontë. As a collector-on-a-budget, I cannot boast of having a rare first edition like the one that sold for £114,000 at Bonham’s in 2007.
My earliest copy dates to the late 1920s and my most treasured, is my 1931 Random House (first trade edition), Clare Leighton-illustrated Wuthering Heights.
I’ll show it to you one day! ♡
Well I certainly agree about the picture of Laurence Olivier! Love seeing the editions that you have, I look forward to the 1931 edition.