Incomplete Online Etexts

One note to those reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall electronic texts online. All of the electronic texts that I have seen online (including the text available at this site) omit what is essentially the first chapter of the novel.

The novel is constructed as though it was a series of letters from Markham to Halford. The portion omitted from the online texts is Markham's initial letter to Halford that informs the reader about Markham's relationship with Halford and why Markham is initiating this autobiography of his life prior to his introduction to Halford.

Thus, in a sense, the letter to Halford comprises the first chapter of Anne Bronte's novel. What is presented in the online texts as "Chapter 1" is an invention of the narrator Markham. Markham indicates to Halford that he will tell Halford about his prior history and that he will begin with "chapter 1" because the telling of his story will comprise many chapters. The chapters are presented in the book as though they are Markham's creation rather than Anne Bronte's, which is why the book begins prior to chapter 1.

The explanation for why the online texts omit part of the text of the novel is possibly twofold. Novels (or all books really) normally begin with chapter one. If the author has relevant material prior to chapter one that material usually has a heading such as "introduction" or "explanation" etc. Anne Bronte does indeed have an "introduction" to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is included in some online editions of the book and omitted in others. Since the initial letter to Halford does not have a proper section title or heading, those generating the electronic versions of the book may have naturally started with chapter one, unaware of the material prior to chapter one.

Additionally, there was a cheaper published edition of the book released after its initial publication that omitted both Anne Bronte's introduction to the book and the opening letter from Markham to Halford. Its possible that the online editions of the novel derive their sourcing from that edition rather than the first edition.

I wanted to add to this caveat the fact that there are other passages missing in this text besides the opening letter. For example, there is the equivalent of three pages of book text missing from chapter XXVIII. This not only robs the reader of text, it changes the chapter numbering; students using an online text for study and research purposes therefore risk giving the wrong reference if using the wrong edition. Researchers are urged to be careful about choosing texts. The Penguin Classics edition (as opposed to the Penguin Popular Classics edition) seems to be complete.

I would also point out that, if it is an online text, it is ipso facto an etext, and the double reference is superfluous.