zaterdag 5 september 2009

'Tis Strange To Think , by Anne Brontë (1843)

And when the blessed dawn again
Brought daylight to the blushing skies
We woke, and not reluctant then
To joyless labour did we rise,
But full of hope and glad and gay
We welcomed the returning day.
~

dinsdag 1 september 2009

female literary legends

In the battle of the female literary legends, ITV1's new adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights beat BBC1's terrestrial movie premiere about Jane Austen to win the Sunday ratings.
Peter Bowker's take on Wuthering Heights pulled in 4 million and a 19% share between 9pm and 10.30pm, while BBC1's Becoming Jane drew 3.3 million and a 15% share between 8pm and 9.55pm, according to unofficial overnight figures.

Patrick in faded sepia

A rare photograph of the proud father of the most famous literary family in the world has recently been bought at auction in Surrey and donated to the Parsonage.

The faded sepia image of this remarkable old man taken before his death in 1861 is one of the very few photographs known to exist of Patrick Brontë. Still in its original oval gilt frame, the photograph was discovered among papers in an old film box.

The photograph was once part of a collection of items sold off at auction in 1898 originally belonging to the Brown family- Martha being one of the Brontë servants. Over 110 years later, the photograph returned to the auction room and was bought by a first time auction bidder who donated it to the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Very few original images of the Brontë family exist so we are delighted that this special and rare find can now be displayed for thousands of our visitors to see from Wednesday 2nd September 2009 until January 1st 2010.