Today, in 1847, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Anne Bronte’s Agnes Grey were published in a 3 volume set under the pen names Ellis and Acton Bell, respectively. University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives holds a 12 volume set Novels of the Sisters Bronte which include these classics and well as others including works by third sister Charlotte Bronte author of Jane Eyre. Charlotte’s work was initially published using the pen name Currer Bell.
The three sisters adopted male pen names initially feeling work by female authors would not be taken seriously. Charlotte Bronte wrote “we did not like to declare ourselves women because….our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called feminine.” The Thornton edition set Novels of the Sisters Bronte in Special Collections was published in 1905.