The British Library has put 1,200 of its "greatest literary treasures" online

From the earliest known writing of Charlotte Brontë, a charmingly illustrated short story the Villette author penned for her little sister Anne, to Jane Austen's wry recording of an acquaintance's dismissal of Pride and Prejudice as "downright nonsense", the British Library has put 1,200 of its "greatest literary treasures" online in what is expected to become the biggest digital English literature resource

.Highlighting a survey of more than 500 English teachers, which found that 82% believe secondary school students "find it hard to identify" with classic authors, the British Library launched the Victorian and Romantic section of its new Discovering Literature website on Thursday. With material from organisations such as the Brontë Parsonage Museum and Keats House, the site features manuscripts from authors including Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Austen, Dickens and Wilde, as well as diaries, letters, newspaper clippings from the time and photographs, in an attempt to bring the period to life. Read more on: theguardian and theguardian/my-hero-lucasta-miller-emily-bronte

Photo: Digital treasure trove … Earliest known writings of Charlotte Brontë. Photograph: Brontë Parsonage Museum