Second prize for best story from What3Words in connection with the Brontë Parsonage.

                                                                                    

Dutch Maria van Mastrigt has won a nice prize. She tells about it on her Facebook page Facebook/ MariavanMastrigtt: My second prize for best story from What3Words in connection with the Brontë Parsonage just came in today from England...what a huge honor.

(Digital program What3words divided the whole world into ereas of 3m2, including the Bronte Parsonage. The entire building and the surrounding land therefore contains a number of those compartments. Each box has three words which are randomly chosen by What3words)

The words she chose to use

Vak 1: geology, venturing, carpets Vak 2: requisitoir, film, tungsten Vak 3: metals, identity, flinches

Prize winning story - Branwell’s Big Secret 

[Square 1] 16 Squares of the Brontë Parsonage in Haworth and a strange mixture of words!  I have never really studied the geology of the place, but as I’m wanting to fulfil this task, I thought it be wise to Google on the subject first before venturing any further into a world I’m not really familiar with. It turns out that the rocks of the hills behind my favourite place on earth are about 320 million years old. These rocks…and I quote: ‘were laid down in deltas on the edge of a large continent, with mountains to the north and south.’ There was a lot of quarrying going on in them there hills during those famous days and one might wonder if the sand-stone flags of the Parsonage originated from these quarries on Penistone Hill. According to Charlotte’s great friend Ellen Nussey, the floors were always ‘beautifully clean’ just like the rest of the house. As far as I know there were never any carpets about the place, certainly not in Brontë days, there were only a few handcrafted rugs. The largest of these rugs lay in the cellar, which may come as a surprise, but Branwell had claimed the cellar as a retreat after his disastrous episode at Thorpe Green. As we all know, or at least we think we know, he took to drugs and drinking and we all believe that he made life very difficult for the family when he was up in his bedroom making a right racket. However, I’ve learned recently, that his dad had agreed for him to make use of the cellar, which proved to be less noisy so the rest of the family would be less disturbed by his comings and goings. His sculptor friend Joseph Leyland had gifted him the large carpet, so that he would be suffering the cold a little less during the cold seasons. However, this rug, it would turn out, was not merely there to prevent Branwell from being too cold. 

[Square 4] I will now shock you all, by stating that Branwell was by no means the alcoholic and drug abuser we all believed he was! For so many years the true nature of Branwell’s behaviour has been brushed under the carpet (almost literally as we will find out) and famous biographers of the Brontë family did receive the request to keep schtum about it, if indeed they did know about the big secret at all. Fact is, it would have been even more of a disgrace to the family to reveal the truth about their brother, so it was decided that in every book, in every film or documentary about this famous family, Branwell would always be a drunkard and a junk. It was all one big cover up, even to the villagers who knew him when he was still alive. Branwell did indeed visit the Black Bull pub, often together with his friend Joseph and he did pay visits to the druggist’s shop across the road from the pub, but his staggering home late at night, was all one big act. What a lot of people don’t know is that underneath the top of Main Street are secret tunnels and cellars, some are still there, but others are now gone. The ones from the Black Bull and the druggist were connected and this is where Branwell and Joseph in conspiracy with the landlord and druggist were practising the art of alchemy. They were frauds, common criminals, they were one of the first people to make fake gold bars by using tungsten and merely a layer of real gold. The fake gold bars would be transported to the Parsonage by ‘drunk’ little Branwell himself and kept in a hole in the ground underneath the cellar floor, covered up by one of the flags and of course the carpet. The debt collectors who came to the door according to the biographers were not debt collectors at all, but tradespeople in on the act. 

[Square 16] How do I know all this, you may wonder? Well…on my last visit to Haworth, during one of those fabulous walks on the moors, I was having a little rest near the waterfalls, as one does. I was enjoying a sandwich and a cup of coffee from my flask when I saw this man walking around with a metal detector. We were the only two people there and after a little while he saw me too and he walked towards me. He was a friendly enough chap and we got talking. I asked him what kind of metals he had detected around the place and it was then when I first learned about Branwell’s big secret. This man, whose identity remains unknown to me, was the one who discovered the leftovers of the fake gold bars in the cellar some years ago, when he was on a mission to search for metal objects around the Parsonage, for which he had received permission by the curator. The discovery of the hole in the ground with the ‘gold’ and the entire administration kept by Branwell was of course never publicised, it remained a secret. Today I was once again in Haworth and I went to one of the coffee shops in the village for my morning coffee and a toasted teacake. Looking for a quiet place to sit, I suddenly spotted the man from the metal detector sitting at one of the tables in the far corner. I approached him to say hello, but the moment our eyes met I saw him turn away as if he did not want to see me. ‘He flinches’ I thought and I wondered what the reason was for this. Suddenly it dawned on me and instead of saying hello, I asked him: ‘none of what you told me that time near the waterfalls is true now, is it?’ For a few seconds he just stared at me and then he asked me this question: ‘Neither is very good I suppose, but what would you prefer? Branwell the sad, crazy and pining addict, or Branwell the cunning alchemist?’ He got up, left a tenner on the table and left the building. 

Maria van Mastrigt

PS The story is pure fiction of course, apart from the fact that there are indeed some large cellars underneath Main Street!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Photographes of Maggie Gardiner: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas 🎼…Haworth getting ready for the festive season ❤️ …Haworth getting ready for the festive season

Prince Charles' library SOS: Royal warns of race against time to save our treasured literary collection for the nation.

26 October 2021  M

Manuscripts from some of Britain’s greatest poets and authors could be lost to the nation without urgent action, Prince Charles warns today. Writing in the Daily Mail, the heir to the throne said it was ‘too awful to contemplate’ the loss of handwritten texts by some of the country’s best-known writers – including Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Charlotte Bronte.

And he warned that the UK is facing a race against time to save a collection of literary treasures from being auctioned off and potentially taken abroad.

His heartfelt appeal came amid growing pressure to save the Honresfield Library Collection, which includes notebooks from the Bronte sisters, letters from Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott’s original manuscript for his novel Rob Roy.

Read all: dailymail/Prince-Charles-warns-race-against-time-save-treasured-literary-collection-nation

HAWORTH | Full tour of HAWORTH Village BRONTE COUNTRY England | 4K Walki...

This is the actual desk over which the Bronte Sisters passed their manuscripts.

Reflection of its former self.

Haworth Main street post office reflected in the window across the street of what was the original post office in the time of the Brontës ...and this is the actual desk over which their manuscripts passed !

I found this photographe on Wuthering Hikes

Thank you for the permission!

The foundation of the Brontë Society and the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the links with Dewsbury.

 The foundation of the Brontë Society and the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the links with Dewsbury, through William W Yates in The Dewsbury Reporter:

The new owners dispensed with the services of the paper’s long-standing editor, Mr William W Yates, who, aged 74, was probably deemed too old. Shame on them. However, his enforced retirement allowed him to complete a book he had been writing for 20 years about Patrick Bronte entitled “Father of the Brontës”. Patrick spent only two years in Dewsbury, as curate at Dewsbury Parish Church, from 1809 to 1811, and later became Vicar of Hartshead Church. During his stay here, Patrick made a great impression on the people, especially the poor, and Mr Yates would do the same, some 60 years after him. 

For Mr Yates took up his appointment with the Reporter in 1861, the same year as Patrick Brontë died.
And it was only after Mr Yates arrived here from Leicester that he discovered there was a Brontë connection with Dewsbury and district. Being an astute journalist, he realised how important it was for the paper to trace and talk to those who had known Patrick before they too would pass away.
He interviewed anyone who had known the Brontë family and he quickly realised there was a great need for a society to be formed to safeguard all he had discovered. He also saw the importance of finding somewhere to store all this history, along with the many Bronte artefacts which had been brought to his attention.

It was not long before he became instrumental in founding what is now the highly respected Brontë Society, and he arranged its first meeting in Dewsbury Town Hall. He also played an important part in founding the Brontë Museum in Haworth, where Patrick had been vicar for more than 40 years. While I was doing my own research of the Bronte Society and the part Mr Yates played in it, I was surprised to discover that the Brontë Museum very nearly started life in Dewsbury. For, when the newly formed Brontë Society was looking for somewhere to store their artefacts, the old Dewsbury Borough Council offered them Crow Nest Park. But before the offer could be accepted, Haworth Parsonage was put at their disposal, and this is where the museum still stands today. (Margaret Wilson) 

T.S. Elliot estate and Stephen Fry in the fight to keep the Honresfeld collection together.

According to the Daily Mail, the T.S. Elliot estate has stepped in (not the first time it comes to Brontës help) in the fight to keep the Honresfeld collection together: One tweet from Stephen Fry boosted the appeal last month to save a secret £15million treasure trove of literary masterpieces, which are at risk of being split up and sold after staying hidden for a century. Following Fry’s intervention, I can reveal that T.S. Eliot’s trustees, 56 years after his death, have donated £50,000 to help save the manuscripts of Charlotte Brontë, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns for the nation. (Richard Eden and Juliet Conway)

Stephen Fry himself published this a few days ago in the Air Mail:

But what most catches the eyes is the extraordinary trove of Brontëana. There are seven exquisitely produced miniature books written, illustrated, and bound by the teenage Charlotte, chronicling adventures in her imagined world of Glass Town. We have always known that, after Emily’s death, Charlotte found a notebook of her younger sister’s poetry, but it has been assumed that the verses themselves were irretrievably lost. Yet now here that notebook is, filled with 31 Emily Brontë poems in her own hand for academics and enthusiasts to pore and purr over. (...)

Yet hold awhile. Jane Austen continues to grow as (please don’t hit me) a global brand. The Brontës inspire more and more generations around the world. Scott has always been venerated on the Continent, and especially in this year of the 250th anniversary of his birth his reputation is resurgent in his homeland, the Scotland whose identity he more or less invented. To the Scots, Rabbie Burns is more than a national bard; he is a personal friend. (...)

Sotheby’s has agreed to hold off the sale until November, allowing a new-forged and unprecedented consortium of British libraries (Oxford’s Bodleian; the British Library; the Brotherton, in Leeds; the National Library of Scotland; inter alia) time to raise the needful, a gulp-inducing $21 million. Their plan is to keep the collection whole in name and substance, but collaborating and sharing elements with their most natural homes. To Abbotsford, the vast mansion Sir Walter built that now serves as the Scott museum; to Jane Austen’s House, in Hampshire; to the Haworth Brontë Parsonage Museum; to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, in Alloway. Public access remains the key. The palpable physicality of the handwritten is especially to be prized in our Digital Age. You can almost hear the scratch of pens racing across the paper in these astonishing diaries, letters, and notebooks. (..)

Reader, as Charlotte B. liked to apostrophize, perhaps you can help?

The final resting place of Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls.

I found this photograph on Facebook

Photo by courtesy of Marcus Crothers Fitz-Gerald

He wrote

 Was here the weekend!

The final resting place of Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls.

Brontë Blue Plaque Unveiling & Book Launch (30th July 2021), Thornton , ...

Villagers vow to not let historic Yorkshire village Post Office go without a fight.

Campaigners are fighting to save a beloved Post Office on the street where the Brontës lived.

There has been a Post Office on Haworth Main Street, near Keighley, for over 150 years, and the Brontës may well have used the old premises, which was housed just metres away from its current home. Read more: Examiner live

A new Jane Eyre edition.

Featuring artwork by artist Christina Rauh Fishburne, The Crow Emporium Edition will be a superb addition to the shelves of lovers of literature. thecrowemporium/the-crow-emporium-press/jane-eyre-by-charlotte-bronte-illustrated-crow-emporium-edition
 

In the footsteps of the Brontës in Brussels – on an app.

Read all on: brusselsbronte/follow-in-footsteps-of-bronte-sisters

The Belgian app company Totemus has just launched a treasure hunt (‘chasse’) in the form of a historical walk in Brussels on the theme of Charlotte and Emily Brontë’s stay in the city in 1842-43. As far as I know, this is the first time the Brussels tourist services have launched a Brontë-themed walk. 

FNL forms consortium to save literary treasure trove for the nation FNL is leading a bid to save Honresfield Library a treasure trove of literary manuscripts.

Read all: fnl.org.uk/50-fnl-forms-consortium-to-save-literary-treasure-trove-for-the-nation

Friends of the National Libraries has announced that it is leading a bid to save one of the most important private collections of manuscripts and printed books associated with some of the greatest writers in the United Kingdom.  FNL is today launching an appeal and is in discussion with private philanthropists and sources of public funds to raise the purchase price of £15million. FNL, and the participating libraries and museums listed below, are profoundly grateful to the vendors and their representatives Sotheby’s for deciding to postpone the auction of the first part of the library, originally announced for July, in order to preserve the entire library as a collection to be allocated to libraries around the UK for the benefit of the public.

Friends of the National Libraries is the only UK charity that focuses on saving our written and printed heritage, by giving acquisition grants to regional, national and specialist archives and libraries throughout the UK.  Its national role makes it ideally placed to spearhead the campaign to purchase the Honresfield Library.  Today it launches an appeal for funds to enable the Honresfield Library to be preserved and shared across the United Kingdom.

Taking a UK-wide approach to acquiring the Honresfield Library, FNL, along with a consortium of libraries and museums, will work to raise the substantial funds needed to acquire the Honresfield Library and will then pass ownership of every individual item to the appropriate national, regional and specialist institution across the UK that will benefit the widest possible public.

 A major and co-ordinated effort is needed to save this astonishingly important collection.  The consortium of institutions that has come together to realise this vision includes:

Abbotsford: The Home of Walter Scott, Melrose, Scotland;
The Bodleian Libraries, Oxford;
The British Library, London and Yorkshire;
The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh;
The Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth, Yorkshire;
Jane Austen’s House, Chawton, Hampshire;
The Brotherton Library, University of Leeds;
The National Trust for Scotland: The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway.
Taking an innovative approach, FNL will ensure that the Honresfield collection will be cared for and made available in institutions across the UK, enabling the widest possible audience to see, study and enjoy this pre-eminent material.

donate/campaign/

Bronte diaries and letters at heart of private family collection.

Rebecca Yorke, Interim Director of the Brontë Society, said: “The thought that rare and precious Brontë manuscripts were going to be sold off individually at auction was devastating, so this is wonderful news.

"We’re proud to be working on the fundraising campaign to bring these unique items home to Yorkshire. The sums involved are significant, but we will do all we can to save the ‘little books’, letters, first editions, Emily’s notebook and other items, so they can be enjoyed by Haworth residents and visitors for years to come.”

Charles Sebag-Montefiore, Trustee and Treasurer of FNL, said:  “FNL is thrilled to be able to take the lead in saving the Honresfield Library. FNL is working with a consortium of institutional funders and individual philanthropists to raise the substantial funds need to secure this extraordinary collection for the benefit of everyone in the UK. This is a crucial national endeavour to raise enough funds to keep this unique treasure trove in Britain. This is cultural levelling up, as the items will be spread across the UK from Yorkshire to Edinburgh, Oxford and London.” thetelegraphandargus

It happened at Sotheby's.

My friend, Geri Meftah, of The Brontë Sisters  blog, told  me  about The Honresfield Library collection  and its Brontë items to be auctioned off via Sotheby's. One of her emails contained this information:

".... literary lovers will be able to see items from the private collection at exhibitions in London, Edinburgh and New York"

New York? That's well within a day trip for me, so my husband and I decided to see if we could view the collection. I was particularly interested in seeing the manuscript of Emily's poems, which would be in the  Sotheby's NYC display.

Display area

For many years it has been said such Emily papers were destroyed. Well here were  some and quite possibly they were among the very papers that electrified Charlotte in the autumn of 1845 when she read Emily's poems and resolved they would all seek publication.

These pages are arguably the most important Brontë manuscript there is, based on the rarity of Emily's effects, the importance of her poetry and for being the spur that ultimately brought us the Brontë sisters books.  

At first I wondered since we were not gong to be bidding, we would not be let in to see the collection. But that's wasn't the case at all. Sotheby's was very welcoming. All one had to do was make an appointment via email. This we did. 

Sotheby's  NYC, should be known as a free, cool thing to do in Manhattan. You get to wonder about and  look at all the items featured  in up coming autions. We saw three floors of priceless jewels, paintings and much else. There's also a great Italian cafe on site!

The Brontë items on display in New York , besides Emily's poems, were Martha Brown's copy of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey (signed by Patrick Brontë) , two letters of Branwell's, plus the family's 1816 Berwick Book of Birds, featured in the beginning of Jane Eyre.

Branwell letters

It was all great to see. There's nothing like Brontë items. We enjoyed looking at it all for some time. We then went off to see everything else on display in this historic auction house.

When we were about to leave, I said to my husband " let's say goodbye to the Brontë items." and we returned to the Honresfield display. I noticed a young man looking it over. "Oh I thought how nice,  another fan". We had the area all to ourselves earlier, it was good to see another enthusiast. 

There was a tag in Emily's poems, placed like a bookmark. My husband wanted to know its significance.
A young woman came by who was obviously connection to Sotheby's and he asked her about it. Turned out it was something to do with the packing. Anyway instead of leaving, we fell into conversation about the items with her and the young man. 

We all were excited about the items and chatted about them.

Then as she was speaking, the young woman reached into her pocket,took out a key and opened the Brontë case.

Bronte display case

My shock was such, it was as if we had entered another dimension.
In fact I said aloud.

 " She's opening the case!"

She then handed the young man the Berwick Book to look over .

I said"  She's taking stuff out! "

I now realized I was in the presence of a for real bidder and a curator. I later read the young man's  business card. He was  a representative of a large, antiquarian  book company with shops around the world.

After he looked the book over,  the curator very kindly showed my husband and I the Jane Eyre related pages and prints .

 I was pinching myself already.

Berwick book

The Berwick book was put back in its place and she then took out Emily's poems to hand to him for inspection. When he was about to hand them back, I saw my chance and I took it.  I would regret it forever if I didn't.

" May I hold that too? " I asked and she said" Certainly "

Holding EJB poems

I do believe these poems were among the ones CB found in 1845.  The poems were neatly written in ink in Emily 's hand (like block printing as they did in the little books, but larger) with editing marks done later by Charlotte in pencil. These pages were not put to the flames when Emily and Anne's papers were burned. That speaks of a special attachment on Charlotte 's part. I did think of Emily's writing her poems and Charlotte holding these pages. Everything started after that discovey, and here, somehow, I held those pages too...even if for a half minute. You can't even hope for something like that. It's a kind of miracle.

Close up of poems photo

And now for the good news! The sale has been postponed so Friends of the National Libraries, the National Library of Scotland, the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford and Jane Austen's House in Hampshire, among other groups, can raise the funds needed to keep the collection together and in public venues! The group thanked Sotheby's for giving them time to try to "preserve the entire library as a collection to be allocated to libraries around the UK for the benefit of the public".

Anne Lloyd.