The text reprinted in this new edition is that of the 1848 third edition text--the last text corrected by the author. Contexts includes eighteen new selections and two new subsections: Charlotte and Janes Illustrated Book which includes a letter from Brontë to her publisher W. S. Williams; Vignettes from Bewick; and Charlotte Brontë and Bewicks British Birds and Charlotte Brontë as Governess, which includes letters to Emily Brontë, Ellen Nussey, W. S. Williams, and The Governess-Grinders. Criticism collects six major essays on Jane Eyre, four of them new to the Third Edition. Contributors include Adrienne Rich, Sandra M. Gilbert, Jerome Beaty, Lisa Sternlieb, Jeffrey Sconce, and Donna Marie Nudd. A new Chronology and updated Selected Bibliography are also included.