The hammer has descended, and the letter from Charlotte Brontë to William Smith Williams, dated October 18, 1848 – is now on its way from the auction room in New York to the Parsonage. Written just after the death of Branwell and at a time when Emily was displaying distressing symptoms of Tuberculosis (she died three months later), the letter is highly significant, even though there are no references to these things.
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A letter written by Charlotte Brontë as she grieved over the death of her brother Branwell and fretted about the health of her younger sister Emily is on its way back to Haworth.
The Brontë Parsonage Museum outbid other collectors to get the letter for $55,000 (£39,000) at an auction in New York.
It will join a treasure trove of artifacts acquired by the museum in Haworth over the past six months.
This latest item was written by the author of Jane Eyre, on October 18, 1848, shortly after Branwell died. It was sent to William Smith William, the reader at her publisher Smith Elder and Co.
Ann Dinsdale, the museum’s collections manager, said: “This was a very sad period of her life. Branwell had just died and Emily was showing symptoms of the TB which would kill her three months later.
“The letter doesn’t refer to these things, but it talks about her being ill. I think her deep unhappiness was manifested in this ill health.”
Mr William became a friend to Charlotte having spotted her potential as a writer when she sent her first novel The Professor to the publishing house. It was not accepted but he encouraged her to write Jane Eyre, which the company published.
Mrs Dinsdale said staff followed the auction online and were very excited when they realised the hammer had gone down on their bid.
Once the letter arrives back in Haworth, it will join the other recently bought artifacts including a poetry manuscript written by Charlotte as a 13-year-old and Emily’s artist’s box.
woensdag 23 juni 2010
maandag 21 juni 2010
The Bluebell, gedicht van Emily Bronte
The Bluebell is the sweetest flower
That waves in summer air
Its blossoms have the mightiest power
To soothe my spirit's care
There is a spell in purple heath
Too wildly, sadly dear
The violet has a fragrant breath
But fragrance will not cheer
The trees are bare, the sun is cold
And seldom, seldom seen
The heavens have lost their zone of gold
And earth her robe of green
And ice upon the glancing stream
Has cast its sombre shade
And distant hills and valleys seem
In frozen mist arrayed
The Bluebell cannot charm me now
The heath has lost its bloom
The violets in the glen below
They yield no sweet perfume
But, though I mourn the sweet Bluebell
'Tis better far away
I know how fast my tears would swell
To see it smile to-day
For, oh! when chill the sunbeams fall
Adown that dreary sky
And gild yon dank and darkened wall
With transient brilliancy
How do I weep, how do I pine
For the time of flowers to come
And turn me from that fading shine
To mourn the fields of home!
Rebecca Fraser
Op dit moment lees ik
met veel plezier
het boek Charlotte Bronte
van Rebecca Fraser
Ik dacht dat ik bijna alles wel wist
maar in dit boek
komen dingen naar voren die mij
onbekend waren
zoals
het adres
waar Charlotte haar brieven aan Monseigneur Heber naar toe stuurde
en was Branwell een blackmailer?
Rebecca Fraser has worked as a researcher, publisher's editor and journalist, and has written for many publications including Tatler, Vogue, The Times and the Spectator. She has also illustrated two children's books, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Robin Hood. She is married and has three daughters. Her first book, a biography of Charlotte Brontë-, was very well received, and she has recently become President of the Brontë- Society.