Brontë in Paris; pity poor Haworth

My news from Paris is that on Jan 30 this cultural jewel, a tiny manuscript written by a youthful Charlotte Brontë in 1830, will go on public display for the first time.

That is an awful long time for the public to have had to wait. So it is good to be able to add that there is a geographical bonus: there are far worse places to find yourself on a winter's day than the vicinity of 222 Boulevard Saint-Germain.

Le Musée des lettres et manuscrits - someone please explain to me why Le not La, but do NOT get me on to the subject of the accent in Brontë - was successful in an auction at Sotheby's in London on Dec 14 in securing the "little book", which measures just 35 x 61mm but nevertheless contains 20 pages with more than 4,000 words of minuscule script. Read more: France salut

Portrait of Emily.

 From: bronteblog/better-disputed-bronte-than-none.html

It is well known what our opinion and the Brontë Society's opinion is about this alleged portrait of Emily Brontë (attributed to John Hunter Thompson of Bradford around 1840) recently auctioned at J.P. Humbert Auctioneers. This is the press release of its auction sale:

Emily Brontë 'Bonnet' Portrait sells in excess of £23000
A portrait of Emily Brontë has sold at a Northamptonshire auction house for £23,836 (premium inclusive) against a pre-sale estimate of £10,000-15,000. It will stay in England after a fierce bidding battle with a prospective buyer in America.
After much speculation over the past month as to whether the 7 'A' x 5 '/4" oil on board was of the reclusive English writer or not, the evidence as produced by the auctioneers seemed to stack up meeting much international interest and buyers in the room and online.
Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert of J.P. Humbert Auctioneers Ltd of Towcester said: "we are delighted with the result which seems to prove our contention that this was in fact a hitherto unknown portrait of Emily Brontë."
"During viewing, at least four independent authorities on the Brontë family concurred with our view, one of whom has written a definitive publication on Wuthering Heights." 

We wonder who these anonymous independent authorities are. bronteblog/better-disputed-bronte-than-none.html

Frocktalk posts a very interesting interview with Michael O'Connor, costume designer of Jane Eyre 2011 in which he says thinks like this:

Tell me about how you arrived at the color palette.  It was exquisite.  Was it a result of conversations with the Production Designer and DP, or was it something the director had in mind?
The colour palette really is about the balance between Jane and other characters. The book often describes Jane as wearing plain black. I thought this would be too severe so chose shades of grey, dark blue and slate colours with subtle patterns to reflect the mood of the scene. Once these colours were established, other characters fit in around her. So, for example Rochester has a brown frock coat and not the more usual black; likewise Mrs. Fairfax is mostly in brown. Blanche Ingram, where the temptation is to be brash and colourful, could be designed more subtly. bronteblog

Bronte blog:

A Brontë mention in the Downton Abbey Christmas special, the book title they have to guess in the Christmas charade is The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. You can see a complete photoset on Sunny Dreams.

The new black in economy and politics is, of course, budget cuts. They know no limits and we wonder if when they are planned someone looks beyond the sheer figures and thinks of the consequences (social and economical) of many of these (improvised) decisions. The latest in this series comes from Kirkless Council:

Museums could close for a quarter of the year to cut costs.
Kirklees Council officials have drawn up plans to shut cultural centres across the district in December, January and February.
The move would affect sites including: (...)

Red House Museum in Gomersal, an 1830s home which featured in the Charlotte Brontë novelShirley.
Oakwell Hall in Birstall, a 17th Century stately home with extensive grounds which also featured in Shirley. (...)
The proposal is set to be formally unveiled next month, with the museums due to close in December 2012.
Unison’s chief steward for wellbeing and communities Kath McHendry told the Examiner yesterday: “We haven’t got firm details but the thing they are looking at is closing them in December, January and February.
“The museums would be closed for three months, unless there was a special event. That seems to be the proposal they want to run with.” (...)
Huddersfield Civic Society chairman Chris Marsden also attacked the plan yesterday.
“I think it’s a miserable idea to close the council’s cultural offering for a quarter of the year,” he said.
“The education of schoolchildren should be higher up the council’s agenda. This plan would spread ignorance.”

Mr Marsden believes the closures would harm Huddersfield’s tourism industry.
“It’s discouraging people from visiting the town,” he said.
“If you bring someone to Huddersfield, you would expect to be able to offer people some insight into the town through art and museums.”
Mr Marsden added that Kirklees should consider less radical ways to save money.

“I would like to know the rationale behind this,” he said.
“Closing museums for one day a week, or shutting earlier in the evening would be kinder.
“Closing for three months would be hard. The winter is a good time to visit museums, in the summer people want to do outdoor things, like go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park.”  (Barry Gibson in The Huddersfield Daily Examiner)

UK DVD Releases: March 2012

The DVD (and Blu-Ray) release of Jane Eyre 2011 in the UK will be next March 12 (thanks to Traxy for telling us). It seems that the edition will contain the same extras as the Region 1 edition:T

 Jane Eyre (Triple play Blu-ray+DVD+Digital Copy)

Universal Pictures UK
March 12, 2011

Additional Material:

• Audiocomentary by Cary Fukunaga
• A Look Inside Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre Featurette 03:39)
• Deleted Scenes

00:02:47	(JANE LOST ON THE MOORS) (DELETED SCENE)
00:00:48	(MRS. REED PUTS JANE BACK INTO THE RED ROOM) (DELETED SCENE)
00:00:59	(MRS. REED TALKS TO JANE IN BED) (DELETED SCENE)
00:02:47	(BADMINTON IN THE GARDEN) (DELETED SCENE)
00:00:47	(JANE MEETS ROCHESTER ON THE STAIRCASE) (DELETED SCENE)
00:00:29	(ADELE SCREAMS IN JANE'S ROOM) (DELETED SCENE)
00:00:29	(JANE OVERHEARS THE INGRAMS TALKING) (DELETED SCENE)
00:03:12	(BERTHA RIPS WEDDING VEIL IN JANE'S ROOM) (DELETED SCENE)
00:03:44	(ROCHESTER PLEADS WITH JANE TO STAY) (DELETED SCENE)

• Easter Egg: Audiocomentary by Rob Meyer and Ameer Youssef, close associates of director Cary Fukunaga. 
• To Score Jane Eyre (02:11)
• The Mysterious Light of Jane Eyre (01:50) — Interviews with cast and crew on the cinematography and the novel's gothic aspect.Bronteblog 

The Rylands Online Collection

Browse images related to Mrs. Gaskell at the Rylands Online Collection. Including some of her letters, plates of drawings that originally appeared in first editions or the magazine publications of her works, and the famous miniature portrait. I highly recommend you to visit it:enriqueta.man.ac.uk Gaskell

Haworth

WEBLOGS about Haworth

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Rachel Lucie

A Christmas Carol

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MERRY CHRISTMAS

Happy Christmas to all Bronte Sisters readers!

The Bronte Sisters and their Christmas holidays.

 

Only two months later, when Charlotte was home for the Christmas holidays, the sisters had a chance to test this power further. The Brontë household servant Tabby had broken her leg on the frozen Mainstreet of Haworth and was to be sent away to recover at her sister's cottage. Emily, Charlotte and Anne protested, but were ignored. They initiated a hunger strike that only lasted 24 hours before their Aunt and father gave in, and allowed Tabby to be nursed at Haworth. 

As late as 1833, when Charlotte was seventeen, her father"s  Christmas present to her was a notebook at the front of which he thought it necessary to make the written plea that 'all that is written in this book, must be in a good, plain and legible hand' (Barker, The Brontës, p. 201).

But, in the Christmas holidays, the three sisters again met at their home, and discussed their hopes and prospects

It was about Christmas time of 1836 that Miss Wooler transferred her school from the fine, open and breezy Roe Head, to Heald House, Dewsbury Moor a much less bracing situation, which was sure to be less healthy to anyone accustomed, as the Brontes were, to the moors at Ha worth ; Charlotte very much regretted the change, especially for the sake of her sister Anne. Charlotte returned to the school after the holidays

When returning home for her Christmas holidays, Anne informs the Robinsons that she wishes to terminate her employment with them. She wants to stay at home, taking the place of Emily, who will soon be leaving, with Charlotte, to attend a school in Brussels. However, Anne has made herself so indispensable at Thorp Green that the Robinsons plead with her to return, which she ultimately decides

 to do.

Christmas 1839 saw the whole Bronte family reunited in Haworth, all four children having failed to hold a job  and all four now unemployed.

Charlotte to Miss Wooler
"Dec. 12th, 1853.

"I wonder how you are spending these long winter evenings. Alone, probably, like me. The thought often crosses me, as I sit by myself, how pleasant it would be if you lived within a walking distance, and I could go to you sometimes, or have you to come and spend a day and night with me.