The Brontë Parsonage 'to be transformed over the next two years'

The Telegraph and Argus talks to Brontë Parsonage Museum director about the recent grant awarded to the museum:

The shrine to the Bronte sisters at Haworth is to be transformed over the next two years.
The interior refurbishment of the Bronte Parsonage Museum, which will aim to show how the family fitted into the broader Haworth community, comes thanks to a £50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery fund.
To celebrate the windfall, Haworth residents will get free admission to the museum, on Saturday, August 15.
And in line with the aim of keeping local people involved, there will be a programme of community activity.
A major feature of the refurbished historic interior will be a greater focus on Haworth’s history and the social-historical context in which the Brontes lived in the early to mid 19th century.
The family arrived in Haworth from Thornton, Bradford, in 1820.
Museum director Andrew McCarthy said: “We will be renewing the interpretation aspects and giving visitors of all ages information about the house and the family.
“The project will also seek to create a greater focus in the museum on Haworth’s history and the social- historical context in which the Brontes lived.
“As part of this initiative there will be a programme of community activity to involve local people in the project.”
The lottery grant will fund stage one of the project involving the introduction of the new interpretation, object cases and displays.
The museum recently completed a refurbishment to its permanent exhibition space, the first major development at the museum in more than 20 years.
Mr McCarthy said the new exhibition space had proved a big hit with visitors.
Fiona Spiers, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “This fantastic project will really bring the museum’s collections to life for everyone to explore.
“The Brontes are the heart of Haworth but they were part of a broader community when they lived and wrote here and the museum has an important role in reflecting that and in forging links with the 21st century Haworth community.
“This project will hopefully allow us to work in partnership with that community to reinterpret the Brontes and the Parsonage for the next generation.” (Clive White)

The Yorkshire Post echoes the news as well.

The Brontë Parsonage Blog publishes a a plea for help:

Jon Lindseth writes:
I am compiling a census of two Bruxelles 1849 adaptation editions of Jane Eyre in French language. If any one knows of any copy other than those listed below, please let me know.
1. The first is: Jane Eyre. Bruxelles: Alp. Lebegue, imprimeur-editor. 1849. Translated by “O.N.” (Old-Nick; i.e. P. E. Durand-Forgues.) 2 v in 1. This is an adaptation of pp143;104. It is discussed by Emile Langlois in Brontë Society Transactions Part 81, No.1 of Volume 16, 1971. It is shown in one copy on COPAC, that at Cambridge and in three copies on OCLC, at Cambridge, Princeton and Leiden University.
2. The second is: Jane Eyre. Bruxelles: Meline, Cans et Compagnie. 1849. No translator listed but now known to be the same Durand-Forgues as in book (1) above. 2 v. Pp [iv] + 269; [iv] + 284. In 27 chapters. Not discussed by Langlois or listed in any Brontë bibliography. No copy in COPAC or OCLC. I have a copy which so far is the only one located.
Neither book shows in American Book Prices Current (ABPC online) for recorded auctions since 1978, or on Artfact or Jahrbuch der Auktionspreise.
The Bodleian has not posted their pre-1920 books on COPAC but a check of their catalogue shows they have no Jane Eyre editions, Bruxelles, 1849. The British Library has neither edition. Bibliotheque royale de Belgique and the Belgian Union Catalogue have neither. Bibliotheque nationale de France and the French Union Catalogue locate neither edition. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the national library of the Netherlands, confirms they have neither edition; their search of the Dutch Union Catalog confirms that only Leiden University holds the Alp. Lebegue adaptation edition and the Meline edition is not found.
My speculation is that other copies will turn up in personal Brontë or Victorian woman writer collections or library shelves of people who have inherited books and don’t know the significance of what they have.
If you know of other copies of either edition, please contact me at jalindseth@aol.com

If anyone can help, please do write to him.

On a very different note, The Boston Globe defines Red Sox owner John Henry's wooing emails to his now-wife as

Shakespearean - in some cases, right out of a Bronte novel, or maybe "Twilight." (Meredith Goldstein)

And highly varied too, we would add, as Shakespeare has nothing to do with the Brontës or Twilight.

A couple of Blogs discuss Jane Eyre: The Book Lady's Blog is not completely convinced by Jane Eyre after reading it, while The Library Files is halfway through the novel and enjoying it. YouTube user matcoop shares a video of Haworth at Christmas.

Categories: Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontë Society, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Translations