The Professor was the first novel by Charlotte Brontë. It was originally written before Jane Eyre and rejected by many publishing houses, but was eventually published posthumously in 1857 by approval of Charlotte's husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls, who accepted the task of reviewing and editing of the novel. The novel is based upon Charlotte Brontë's experiences in Brussels, where she studied as a language student and was a teacher in 1842. Much of the subject matter of The Professor was later reworked, from the perspective of a female teacher, into Brontë's novel Villette, which received critical acclaim.