A small unpublished manuscript of 13-year-old Charlotte Bronte will sell for $ 1.25 million at a book fair in New York City later this month.
The work, entitled “A Book of Rhymes, Sold by Nobody, and Printed by Herself” by Charlotte Bront, is smaller than a playing card – yet it contains a literary collection of 10 poems by the author of “Jane Eyre”.
According to Henry Wessels, an associate of James Cummins Bookseller, the manuscript, dated December 1829, has not been seen in public since it was sold in New York in 1916. It was recently found in a private collection, he said.
Stitched together on its original brown paper cover, the 15-page story tells the story of Bronty and his siblings involving a “sophisticated fantasy world,” according to a dealership press release.
“They wrote adventure stories, plays and verses in handmade manuscript books filled with small handwriting intended to resemble printing.”
Charlotte Bronte Credit: Reuters
Cummins, along with Mags Bros., are two dealers selling the work at the April 21 New York International Antiquarian Book Fair on Park Avenue Armory.
“The manuscript was last seen by the public in 1916 and we all love the story of an unexpected survival,” Wessels told CNN in an email. “Now the owner wants to make sure that it is reserved for future generations, and ultimately, available for scholarship.”
Wessels described the manuscript as “a pretty little thing” that was carefully assembled from family scraps and sewn with original thread.
“It must be admitted that the following is an inferior rhythmic attempt, but they are still my best,” Bront wrote on the title page of the manuscript. And at the end of the book, he reinforces creative control over the imaginary world created by himself and his siblings.
A shot from the “Book of Rhymes” featuring 13-year-old Charlotte Bronte spelling the word “rhymes.” Credit: Courtesy of James Cummins Bookseller
“Just think of the Brunt kids telling stories and writing among themselves, learning at home in a remote village, and then, briefly, writing books that millions of people have read since then, and leaving behind handmade things. As this manuscript,” Wessels said. , Who was amazed at how the book survived in the last century.
Bronte and his sisters Emily and Anne wrote some of the most popular novels in English, including “Jane Eyre” (1847), “Udering Heights” (1847) and “The Tenant of Wildfall Hall” (1948).
