Emily Brontë: The Annotated Wuthering Heights (2014)•
Branwell Brontë: Emily Brontë (c. 1834)Emily Brontë. The Annotated Wuthering Heights (2014)
[Amazon.com.au, ordered 20/12/24 - arrived 10/2/25]:
Emily Brontë. The Annotated Wuthering Heights. 1847. Ed. Janet Gezari. Belknap Press. Cambridge, Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2014.
Who would have thought that the publication of annotated editions of classic texts was such debatable ground?
I've tried to list as many details as I could find about each of the major series in my earlier posts on the Clarkson N. Potter and Norton Annotated Editions, Landmark Ancient Histories, and Longman Annotated English Poets. I'm following up on that here with another set of titles, published (for the most part) by Harvard University's Belknap Press.
In some cases, which I've marked with an asterisk below, the Belknap title is in direct competition with another book, as in the case of The Wind in the Willows, where two different editions appeared in the same year, 2009: one from the well-established Norton series, the other from Harvard University Press.
I've marked each of the books I own copies of in bold:
- * Kenneth Grahame: The Wind in the Willows, ed. Seth Lerer (2009)
- * Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, ed. Patricia Meyer Spacks (2010)
- * Jane Austen: Persuasion, ed. Robert Morrison (2011)
- * Charles Darwin: The Annotated Origin, ed. James T. Costa (2011)
- * Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray, ed. Nicholas Frankel (2011)
- * Jane Austen: Emma, ed. Bharat Tandon (2012)
- The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, ed. Jack N. Rakove (2012)
- Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Annotated Emerson, ed. David Mikics (2012)
- * Mary Shelley: The Annotated Frankenstein, ed. Susan J. Wolfson & Ronald Levao (2012)
- * Louisa May Alcott: Little Women, ed. Daniel Shealy (2013)
- * Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, ed. Patricia Meyer Spacks (2013)
- * Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey, ed. Susan J. Wolfson (2014)
- Emily Brontë: The Annotated Wuthering Heights, ed. Janet Gezari (2014)
- * Edgar Allan Poe: The Annotated Poe, ed. Kevin J. Hayes (2015)
- Oscar Wilde: The Annotated Importance of Being Earnest, ed. Nicholas Frankel (2015)
- * Jane Austen: Mansfield Park, ed. Deidre Shauna Lynch (2016)
- Abraham Lincoln: The Annotated Lincoln, ed. Harold Holzer & Thomas A. Horrocks (2016)
- * Ulysses S. Grant: The Personal Memoirs, ed. John F. Marszalek (2017)
- Oscar Wilde: The Annotated Prison Writings, ed. Nicholas Frankel (2018)
- Oscar Wilde: The Short Stories: An Annotated Selection, ed. Nicholas Frankel (2020)
- Oscar Wilde: The Critical Writings: An Annotated Selection, ed. Nicholas Frankel (2022)
Kenneth Grahame. The Wind in the Willows: An Annotated Edition. 1908. Ed. Seth Lerer. Belknap Press. Cambridge, Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Kenneth Grahame. The Annotated Wind in the Willows. 1908. Ed. Annie Gauger. Introduction by Brian Jacques. New York & London: W. W. Norton, 2009.
Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice: An Annotated Edition. 1813. Ed. Patricia Meyer Spacks. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2010.
Jane Austen. The Annotated Pride and Prejudice. 1813. Ed. David M. Shapard. Anchor Books. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007.
Jane Austen: Persuasion: An Annotated Edition. 1817. Ed. Robert Morrison. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2011.
Jane Austen. The Annotated Persuasion. 1817. Ed. David M. Shapard. Anchor Books. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007.
Charles Darwin: The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species. 1859. Ed. James T. Costa. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2011.
Charles Darwin. The Illustrated Origin of Species. 1859. Abridged & Introduced by Richard Leakey. Consultants: W. F. Bynum & J. A. Barrett. London: Book Club Associates, 1979.
Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition. 1859. Ed. David Quammen. 2008. Sterling Signature. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2011.
Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition. 1890. Ed. Nicholas Frankel. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2011.
Wilde, Oscar. The Annotated Oscar Wilde: Poems, Fiction, Plays, Lectures, Essays, and Letters. Ed. H. Montgomery Hyde. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1982.
Jane Austen: Emma: An Annotated Edition. 1815. Ed. Bharat Tandon. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2012.
Jane Austen. The Annotated Emma. 1815. Ed. David M. Shapard. Anchor Books. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2012.
James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, et al. The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. 1776 & 1789. Ed. Jack N. Rakove. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2012.
Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Annotated Emerson. Ed. David Mikics. Foreword by Phillip Lopate. The Belknap Press. Cambridge, Mass & London: Harvard University Press, 2012.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: The Annotated Frankenstein. 1818. Ed. Susan J. Wolfson & Ronald Levao. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2012.
Shelley, Mary. The Annotated Frankenstein. 1818. Ed. Leonard Wolf. Art by Marcia Huyette. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1977.
Mary Shelley. The New Annotated Frankenstein: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. 1818. Rev. ed. 1831. Ed. Leslie S. Klinger. Introduction by Guillermo del Toro. Afterword by Anne K. Mellor. Liveright Publishing Corporation. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Inc., 2017.
Louis May Alcott: Little Women: An Annotated Edition. 1868. Ed. Daniel Shealy. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Louisa May Alcott. The Annotated Little Women. 1868-69. Ed. John Matteson. Liveright Publishing Corporation. New York & London: W. W. Norton, 2015.
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility: An Annotated Edition. 1811. Ed. Patricia Meyer Spacks. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Jane Austen. The Annotated Sense and Sensibility. 1811. Ed. David M. Shapard. Anchor Books. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011.
Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey: An Annotated Edition. 1817. Ed. Susan J. Wolfson. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2014.
Jane Austen. The Annotated Northanger Abbey. 1817. Ed. David M. Shapard. Anchor Books. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2013.
Emily Brontë. The Annotated Wuthering Heights. 1847. Ed. Janet Gezari. Belknap Press. Cambridge, Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2014.
Edgar Allan Poe: The Annotated Poe. Ed. Kevin J. Hayes. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2015.
The Short Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe: An Annotated Edition. Ed. Stuart & Susan Levine. Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1977.
The Annotated Tales Of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. Stephen Peithman. New York: Doubleday, 1981.
Edgar Allan Poe's Annotated Short Stories. Ed. Andrew Barger. USA: Bottletree Books, 2008.
Edgar Allan Poe's Annotated Poems. Ed. Andrew Barger. USA: Bottletree Books, 2008.
Oscar Wilde: The Annotated Importance of Being Earnest. 1895. Ed. Nicholas Frankel. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2015.
Jane Austen: Mansfield Park: An Annotated Edition. 1814. Ed. Deidre Shauna Lynch. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2016.
Jane Austen. The Annotated Mansfield Park. 1814. Ed. David M. Shapard. Anchor Books. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2017.
Abraham Lincoln: The Annotated Lincoln. Ed. Harold Holzer & Thomas A. Horrocks. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2016.
The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant: The Complete Annotated Edition. 1885. Ed. John F. Marszalek, with David S. Nolen & Louie P. Gallo. Preface by Frank J. Williams. Belknap Press. Cambridge, Mass.:, Harvard University Press, 2017.
The Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. 1885. Ed. Elizabeth D. Samet. The Liveright Annotated American History Series. New York: Liveright, 2019.
Oscar Wilde. The Annotated Prison Writings of Oscar Wilde. Ed. Nicholas Frankel. Belknap Press. Cambridge Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, 2018.
Oscar Wilde. The Short Stories of Oscar Wilde: An Annotated Selection. Ed. Nicholas Frankel. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.
Oscar Wilde. The Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde: An Annotated Selection. Ed. Nicholas Frankel. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2022.
I own quite a few editions of Emily Brontë's poems. Of them all, though, I think it's safe to say that Janet Gezari's seems the most straightforward and reliable.
- [1923] The Complete Poems of Emily Jane Brontë, Arranged and Collated, with Bibliography and Notes, by C. W. Hatfield. Ed. Clement Shorter. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., 1923.
- [1941] Emily Jane Brontë. The Complete Poems. Ed. C. W. Hatfield. 1941. New York & London: Columbia University Press & Oxford University Press, 1963.
- [1951] The Complete Poems of Emily Brontë. Ed. Philip Henderson. London: The Folio Society, 1951.
- [1955] Gondal's Queen: A Novel in Verse by Emily Brontë. Ed. Fannie Elizabeth Ratchford. Austin: University of Texas Press / London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Limited, 1955.
- [1992] Emily Jane Brontë. The Complete Poems. Ed. Janet Gezari. Penguin English Poets. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992.
- [1996] The Poems of Emily Brontë. Ed. Derek Roper with Edward Chitham. Oxford English Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.
As you can see from the listings above, there's a strong emphasis on Jane Austen - all six of her novels are included, though most (not all) of them have been anticipated by David M. Shapard's Herculean task of Austen annotation (2007-2017).
Then there's Oscar Wilde. I count five annotated titles in the Harvard series. Their only rival in this respect is H. Montgomery Hyde's pioneering Annotated Oscar Wilde (1982).
What else? There's quite a lot of American history: the Constitution & Declaration of Independence, an Annotated Lincoln, and an annotated version of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (2017) - now rivalled by a 2019 annotated version in the Liveright "Annotated American History Series".
There's a strong emphasis on the Gothic impulse in some of the other literature included in their list: An Annotated Poe, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Then again, there are American classics such as Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and an Annotated Emerson, which hardly fit that description. Perhaps their (relative) pastoral innocence is echoed by the inclusion of The Wind in the Willows - though certainly not by Darwin's Origin of Species, the only scientific classic to make the cut.
All in all, it's an eclectic but strangely satisfying list. Are they intending to continue with it? The annotatory impulse seems to have hit a bit of a roadblock tecently - with no new titles in either series, the Belknap or the Norton, for two or three years now.
Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Annotated Anne of Green Gables. 1908. Ed. Margaret Anne Doody, Mary Doody Jones, & Wendy Barry. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Margaret Anne Doody
Laura Ingalls Wilder. Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography. Ed. Pamela Smith Hill. A Publication of the Pioneer Girl Project: Nancy Tystad Koupal, Director; Rodger Hartley, Associate Editor; Jeanne Kilen Ode, Associate Editor. Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2014.
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- geography - Bookcase 11: Annotated & Outsize Books
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