Editors' Note

We are delighted to share with our readers this special issue of Victorian Review, which focuses on the works of the Brontë family and is guest edited by Lauren N. Hoffer (University of South Carolina Beaufort) and Elizabeth Meadows (Vanderbilt University). To celebrate the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë's birth, this issue invites into conversation established and emergent Brontë scholars and presents both traditional and innovative methods for studying the Brontës' oeuvre.

This issue marks the end of the joint editorship of Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge, who, in 2006–07, took over the editorial role previously occupied so ably by Susan Hamilton. Under their direction, the journal has reached a vastly wider readership through JSTOR, EBSCO, and Project Muse; it has achieved financial stability; and it has moved in-house with the prestigious Johns Hopkins University Press. Having realized these editorial goals, the team is thrilled to hand over the journal to the expert editorial direction of Christopher Keep, who brings his vast intelligence and critical acuity to the task of taking the journal to a further level of achievement.

At this moment of transition, we recognize and celebrate the many past editors and associate editors who have guided Victorian Review, from its beginnings as a regional newsletter to its current form as an international peer-reviewed journal published under the auspices of a university press: Isobel M. Findlay, Christopher Gordon-Craig, Susan Hamilton, Chris Hosgood, Leslie Howsam, Joel H. Kaplan, Adrienne Kertzer, Glennis Stephenson, Sheila Stowell, Douglas Thorpe, C.S. Wiesenthal, and George Wing.

Finally, Lisa and Mary Elizabeth want to thank past and present members of the editorial team, with whom it has been an enormous pleasure to work over the years: Karen Bourrier, Alison Chapman, Constance Crompton, Susan Doyle, Rebecca Gagan, Kristen Guest, Ruth Knechtel, Daniel Martin, Judith Mitchell, and Vanessa Warne. They also want to thank the University of Victoria students who cut their copy-editing teeth on the journal and have gone on to enjoy many professional successes, of which the team is deeply proud. Mary Elizabeth and Lisa extend special thanks to current and former students Michael Carelse, Amy Coté, Jenny Duggan, and Kelsey Kilbey.