Charlotte Brontë, Bennett Cerf, and Henry D. Thoreau Letters: February Books Roundup

Our monthly look at new books that have recently caught the eye of our print and online editors.

The Wisdom of Charlotte Brontë: Thoughts Gathered from Her Novels    
 
Edited by Grace Milne Rae with an introduction by playwright Polly Teale, this was first published in 1912 and is not officially published until May but we thought with all the current Brönte coverage that we would give it a mention this month. It's an anthology of eldest sister Charlotte's writings on subjects such as love, feminism, work, and prejudice. From Bodleian Library Publishing.

The Faery Handbag by Kelly Link
This is the fifth fine press title in the Short Stops series from Conversation Tree Press which features shorter works of fiction in nicely bound, letterpress-printed limited editions. Illustrated by Rovina Cai, it was the 2005 winner of the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and Locus Award for Best Novelette and is a limited edition of 500 unnumbered copies printed by Hand & Eye Editions.

The Writer’s Room: The Hidden Worlds That Shape the Books We Love by Katie da Cunha Lewin

A look at the places where great writers wrote their finest works in rooms of their own featuring the likes of Virginia Woolf, John Keats, and Agatha Christie. From Princeton University Press.

Monasticism and Manuscript Culture in Medieval Europe: Studies in Cluniac History, c. 900–1200 by Scott G. Bruce

A new take on the abbey at Cluny's cultural history from the Professor of History at Fordham University and how its connectedness to its contemporary Benedictine and Cistercians houses. From Cornell University Press

Once There Was a Town: The Memory Books of a Lost Jewish World by Jane Ziegelman

An account of the writings of the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust who gathered in groups and wrote yizkor memorial books to ensure their heritage was never forgotten, including testimonies by people from all areas of life. Published by Macmillan/St Martin’s Press.

Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built by Gayle Feldman

Using unpublished letters from private collections and hundreds of interviews, this is Random House's celebration of its own co-founder, author, columnist, and television star who with Donald Klopfer published Truman Capote, Dr. Seuss, and Toni Morrison and turned the publishing house into a household name. 

Fleshing the Archive: An Intimate Genealogy of Chicana Knowledge Praxis by María Eugenia Cotera

A history of the Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory Collective which preserves Chicana feminist knowledge and publications of the 1970s. Published by University of Texas Press

The Correspondence of Henry D. Thoreau: Volume 3: 1857–1862 edited by Robert N. Hudspeth, Elizabeth Hall Witherell, and Lihong Xie

The concluding volume of the definitive edition of Thoreau’s correspondence from Princeton University Press containing every known letter written or received by Thoreau, around 650, among which are more than 100 previously unpublished (67 of which are in this one) with extremely detailed notes.

Virginia Faulkner: A Life in Two Acts by Brad Bigelow

A biography of the talented writer Virginia Faulkner who dealth with alcoholism and depression, and remade herself at the University of Nebraska Press where she championed the work of Willa Cather. Published by Bison Books

Paule Marshall: A Writer’s Life by Mary Helen Washington

The latest in Yale University Press's Black Lives series, this biography of novelist Paule Marshall (1929–2019) is notable for the author's exclusive access to the writer’s papers (among them Marshall's unpublished memoir), plus interviews with family and friends.