The Mystery of Kitty Bell: A Possible Solution?

Abstract

This article considers the authorship of the first rewriting of Jane Eyre, which was published as part of a novel by Eugène Sue in The London Journal in 1850–51. John Malham-Dembleby was the first person to draw attention to Kitty Bell in an article published in 1907. He argued that the text was written by Sue. That theory was refuted by Mrs Ellis Chadwick seven years later when she published the complete text of Kitty Bell as a separate volume, cautiously presenting it as an early draft of Jane Eyre. In the late 1960s, Tresham Lever discovered a letter signed by Charlotte Brontë which invalidates both theories, but leaves open the question of who did write Kitty Bell. I suggest that the author might have been the editor of The London Journal, George William MacArthur Reynolds, who was an established translator of French literature and openly acknowledged that his own writing was derivative.