As far as we know, Patrick Brontë didn't have a copy of Audubon's magnificent (and very expensive) Birds of America. Nevertheless Audobon's five volumes of his Ornithological Biography (published in the 1830s) were owned by the Brontës.

This article is from bronteblog/all-these-have-i-procured

The Economist has a fascinating article about the copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America who is at the Museum of Natural History in Cleveland, Ohio. Regrettably some of the facts in the article are slightly misleading:

In Margot Livesey's novel "The Flight of Gemma Hardy", an update of Charlotte Brönte's (SIC) Jane Eyre, the heroine spends hours reading her uncle's copy of John James Audubon's "Birds of America", the famous double-elephant folio of bird prints.  (...)
But while the suggestion that Jane could carry the book is unrealistic, Ms Livesey's reference to her access of the book makes sense. Brönte's (SIC)  father, the Reverend Patrick Brönte (SIC) owned the "Birds of America" books at one time. In her Life of Charlotte Brönte (SIC), Elizabeth Gaskell reproduces a letter from her to Emily, which includes a list of book recommendations. "For Natural History, read Bewick, and Audubon, and Goldsmith," she wrote. Brönte's (SIC) set, enjoyed by Anne and Emily as well as Charlotte, does still exist, intact, and bound in brown leather. Where? In Cleveland, Ohio.
The complete set is on permanent display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, far from Bröntes' (SIC) Haworth. The books are on the museum's second-floor library, inside a specially built cabinet from 1947. There is no disputing the book's provenance: the Reverand Brönte (SIC) signed four volumes of the Biography. (The first volume contains some of his notes as well, but the museum has resisted efforts at deciphering them.)
How did this set of books, so key to both literary and bibliophilic history, get to Cleveland? Via another literary great, Amy Lowell. An American poet, Lowell bought the set from a London book dealer in 1901, and paid $1,575. After her death in 1925 the books were sold, and in 1926 were listed by a Boston book dealer for $4,750. In 1947 John Sherwin, a Cleveland banking giant, bought the set and donated it to the Cleveland museum. (A.T.)

As far as we know, Patrick Brontë didn't have a copy of Audubon's magnificent (and very expensive) Birds of America. Nevertheless Audobon's five volumes of his Ornithological Biography (published in the 1830s) were owned by the Brontës. In the first volume, Patrick Brontë inscribed the following (despite what the article says about resisting deciphering):

"There are 5 volumes of this work - prince &1.4.0each - amounting together to &6.0.0. All these have I procured - P.B. 1852".

A reader asked me: Is er ook iets bekend over breiwerk in die tijd ( Victoriaanse lace ? In the Victorian age, what kind of knitting did women do?)

Blueberry winter

If the end of the 18th Century heralded the decline of the handknitting industry

The 19th century heralded the beginning of the craft of home-knitting for pleasure rather than profit. 

This was the time of white cotton work, doilies, chair backs, curtains, shelf edgings etc.
If an article could be knitted, then the Victorian lady knitted it.

• By 1835 knitting had become a very fashionable hobby for middle class drawing rooms of England and Scotland
• Between 1835-40, English knitting books appeared in large numbers, these were very popular
• New imported yarns, fine wools and improved quality needles now became available
• 1836 is the date of first known pattern publication, this was by Jane Gaugain.
• In 1837, Jane produced a small slim book on family knitting
• In 1840, she published a bookThe Ladies Assistant which included crochet as well as knitting
• between 1852-3, she produced lots of books, they contained patterns for
  caps, counterpanes, purses, baby clothes, shawls, bags, pin cushions, doyleys, cuffs, spencers, blankets,
  muffs, scarfs, mittens, and stockings
• It was in about 1837, in Gaitloch, Scotland that the first Argyle or Tartan stockings were produced Mini knitting stuff

Lacy and lush, with delightful flower patterns and lovely colors – that is what the Victorian look is all about; it is what Victorian knitting and crochet were all about, too. From delightfully flattering clothes to wonderfully luxurious bed coverings, Victorian women loved to stitch gorgeous items in dainty patterns. Nowadays, it’s easy to make the same kinds of wonderful pieces yourself. Sources abound for yarns and patterns with that unmistakable Victorian appeal.

Coverlets were one of the most exquisite knitted items in any Victorian home. They were a lavish mix of many floral lace patterns, creating a look of opulence. According to legendary knitting expert Mary Thomas’s Book of Knitting Patterns, “lace knitting” is “the height of the knitter’s art,” and to achieve the best results “knitters used the finest of knitting needles and the finest of knitting yarns.” Delicate designs such as bluebell, laburnum, and beech-leaf captured the beauty of the garden with leaf and flower motifs. 

Another essential for any Victorian knitter was the doily. Ladies of the era pulled out all the stops when they crafted these delightful accents, using often a dozen lace designs in a single piece. Crochet was also a popular method for crafting doilies, as well as similar items such as vase mats – thicker and smaller doilies meant to keep furniture free of water spots. Three-dimensional flowers graced the edges of many crocheted doilies, with the same styles of leaf motifs found in knitting – adding to it flowered charm.
 

Knit and Crochet Fashions: Stepping Out in Lace and Luxury
 

Clothes were another way for a Victorian lady to enjoy hand-knit lace.  Shawls were a favorite accessory. Some were simple one-stitch designs, while others were lavish, with ornate patterns, scalloped edges, and long fringe. For more warmth, shawls were often crafted from non-lacy patterns, such as garter stitch or double crochet, and then enhanced with a lacy edge. Whether they were lacy or cozy, shawls were often trimmed with ribbon and made in fashionable hues of red, mauve, and blue. Victoriana/VictorianCrafts/knitting

Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre:

Women are supposed to be very calm generally; but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.  

The Professor: Next day was appropriated to the first class; on my arrival, I found the directress seated, as usual, in a chair between the two estrades, and before her was standing Mdlle. Henri, in an attitude (as it seemed to me) of somewhat reluctant attention. The directress was knitting and talking at the same time.

Celebrating Emily Brontë Emily Brontë, author of classic novel Wuthering Heights was born on this day in 1818.

Born on this day in 1818.

Weblogs and Emily Bronte

 

Life had not been fair to Heathcliff and now theories abound on why he acted the way he did.

Samairak

The six-year-old Emily was considered a delight at Cowen bridge and seems to have been a favourite among the teachers. She was more fully described  by a unamed source ( possibly be Ellen Nussey) as  having ” a never-failing quiet unselfishness a genial spirit always willing to help, with timid but faithful affection.  Or in the  word of other servants, ""Pleasant  and sometimes quite jovial, friendly, or from villagers, clever, timid, a clever lass with a spirit of her own, ( quoted in New York times 1883  from the famous women series Emily Bronte by A Mary F Robinson. 

We can be sure that Emily had dark brown hair as it can be seen in the mourning jewelry at the parsonage, she is described by eye witnesses as having beautiful dark brown hair, she seems to have held it up in her adult years with a tall comb similar to those still used in Spain, though smaller. In her teenage years she wore it in a tight frizz that was very unbecoming.  Abigails Ateliers/will-the-real-emily-bronte-please-stand-up

The moors she loved so much

 

Reading teenage fiction

Heathcliffe and Cathy in a dramatic scene from Wuthering Heights. Illustration by James E. McConnell

                       Look and learn/birth-of-emily-bronte/

fsuspecialcollections/happy-birthday-emily-bronte/

What connection has Burton Agnes with such famous names as Lewis Carroll (the pen-name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) Charlotte Brontë and William Wilberforce? The link, rather indirect but still valid, comes through St Martin's Church and the Old Rectory behind the Hall, not as grand as the hall but still a substantial building.

St Martin's Church in Burton Agnes

The Rev Charles Henry Lutwidge became Rector of Burton Agnes in 1833. Three years earlier he had married Anne Louisa Raikes, daughter of the wealthy and influential Robert Raikes, of Welton, who was patron of the living of Burton Agnes and conveniently appointed his clergyman son-in-law Lutwidge to the well remunerated position of rector. The Lutwidge's were well established in our area. Grandfather Charles Lutwidge lived in a fine house in Hull's smartest address, Charlotte Street (now incorporated into George Street), and held the prestigious post of collector of customs for Hull. His daughter, Francis Jane, married the Rev Charles Dodgson at Christ Church, which stood near the New Theatre but was bombed in the war and later demolished.  They were the parents of the author of Alice In Wonderland and the Rector of Burton Agnes was his uncle. Whether  (born 1832) ever visited Burton Agnes we shall never know but their dates overlap and he could, quite reasonably, have been taken there as a child on a family visit.

Lewis Carroll is always associated with St Mary's Church, Beverley. The White Rabbit drawn by John Tenniel for the original edition of Alice is identical to the one in Beverley. Again, there is no proof but it would have made sense for Carroll, a clergyman and enthusiastic photographer, to have visited St Mary's and pointed his camera at the carving. Uncle Charles at Burton Agnes took on a curate to assist him in his not too onerous duties: Henry Nussey, whose sister Ellen was Charlotte Brontë's best friend. 

Looking in a somewhat calculating way for a wife who could act as his housekeeper, Nussey proposed marriage to Charlotte Brontë. She promptly turned him down, fortunately as events proved by his later disastrous marriage and Charlotte's finding a more suitable husband, the Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls. William Wilberforce is forever associated with Hull, but the Burton Agnes link comes through his second son, Robert Isaac, born at Clapham in 1802. 

heritage-explorer

The house in High Street was William's birthplace but he did not live there as an adult. Through his father, Robert was brought up in the Evangelical tradition. It was at Oxford that he came into contact with High Church Anglicans, Keble, Pusey and particularly John Henry Newman, who influenced him in following their ideas and beliefs. Robert married Agnes, daughter of Archdeacon Wrangham, though it is recorded that he spent the first day of his honeymoon unromantically writing a book. After her early death he married her cousin. In his church life he prospered, becoming Lutwidge's successor at Burton Agnes in 1840 with the additional position of Archdeacon of the East Riding. This gave him important social standing in the area and he duly enlarged and Victorianised the Georgian rectory. He also embarked on a programme of alterations to the church, concentrating on the chancel in accordance with his religious inclinations, installing a stained-glass window at the east end and, as a tribute to his father, had his head and shoulders carved in stone. In 1853 his second wife died and he made the momentous decision to resign his living at Burton Agnes and become a Roman Catholic. Intending to be ordained, he went to Rome but died there of gastric fever in 1857. His famous father had died in 1833, but this visual reminder of the family link with Burton Agnes remains.

Hull and East Riding

                                   Eastfield farm site of Ellen Nussey's house Easton
Eastfield Farm built in 1961 on the site of an earlier house was where Charlotte Brontë and Ellen Nussey came to stay in 1839. Ellen’s brother was curate at Burton Agnes and had proposed marriage to Charlotte, which she declined. The rector was Charles Henry Lutwidge, uncle of Lewis Carroll. travel/guide/yorkshirewolds

Whilst Charlotte Bronte and her friend Ellen Nussey were staying in Boynton in 1839, they came to visit friends and probably visited the church, where Ellen’s brother had been curate. He had proposed marriage to Charlotte which she declined. The rector was Charles Henry Lutwidge, uncle of Lewis Carroll. travel/guide/yorkshirewolds

—Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights 

Juliet Barker's monumental The Brontës will be republished this autumn in a new edition. Publishers Weekly talks about it and asks the author to list all the Brontë novels:

Juliet Barker's landmark biography, The Brontës: Wild Genius on the Moors: The Story of a Literary Family, has just received an update--making the feat of chronicling literature's most famous family even more heroic, and making the 1,200 page volume even more comprehensive. Barker, the former curator of the Brontë Parsonage Museum at Howarth (sic), ranked the books of the sisters for Tip Sheet.
Ranking Jane Austen’s novels may cause controversy – but it’s a storm in a tea-cup compared to the elemental forces unleashed when asked to choose between the Brontë novels. The three weird sisters of Haworth arouse passions like no other writers: Austen has fans but the Brontës have devotees and, believe me, there’s a very big difference – criticising Pride and Prejudice doesn’t provoke a baying lynch-mob in quite the same way as hinting that all is not perfection inWuthering Heights.
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights have consistently spent decades in the top five best-selling and most popular novels of all time, so doesn’t that make them the obvious candidates for joint first? But I’d like to make the case for...
1. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne is the also-ran of the Brontë family yet The Tenant shares all the virtues of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights – powerful writing, gripping storyline, dramatic tension and passionate authorial involvement – whilst remaining firmly rooted in reality (no Rochester fooling his guests by disguising himself as a gypsy-woman or Heathcliff digging up his lover’s corpse). (...)
2. Jane Eyre3. Wuthering Heights4. Villette5. Agnes Grey6. The Professor7. Shirley (Read more)

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