Locks of hair and black stockings

More information on the recent acquisitions by the Brontë Parsonage Museum. We knew about Branwell Brontë's portrait of Maria Taylor, but we had no information on the other new items: three Victorian envelopes containing locks of Charlotte and Anne's hair and a ring which belonged to Charlotte. On the Reeman Dansie Auctions website theres's more information:

Three Victorian envelopes containing 'A lock of Charlotte Bronte's hair and Anne Bronte's hair given me by Miss Hussey July 8th 1887' a ring belonged to Charlotte Bronte given to my aunt Lady Morrison in 1889 by Miss Hussey[sic] (3)

HAMMER PRICE: £ 320.00

We suppose that Miss Hussey is, in fact, Ellen Nussey.

More news: Tara McCormack writes on Spiked a not-very-enthusiastic review of BBC's Cranford:

What underpins the weakness of many TV adaptations is the seeming lack of nerve of TV channels. Rather than make new drama, BBC and ITV seem to prefer to trawl the classics and endlessly remake Jane Austen and the Brontes (and Gaskell), commissioning ‘safe’ period drama rather than risking new work. Yet at the same time, they do not really want to do the old works justice, preferring a lightweight and soft-focus re-telling that ends up losing much of what makes the originals remain in print so long after their publication.

On the blogosphere, The Spiced Tea Party finds a ...well... different reading of the Lowood scenes in Jane Eyre (much along the lines of this notorious take:)

On the other hand there are also books I've always found sexy--Jane Eyre, for instance (see my post Jane on Jane). I'm indifferent to Mr. Rochester--for me the big turn-on in the book has always been Lowood. All that discipline. All that spanking, dressed in frilly white underwear and black stockings, under the lascivious gaze of Brocklehurst and the Board of Trustees (I made that up. Didn't I?). (Jane Lockwood)

Categories: Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontëana, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV