More Brontë items for auction

It looks as if it is 'auction your Brontë belongings' time. Via the Yorkshire Post we have heard of another important auction to take place in London on December 17th at Sotheby's.

Living a sheltered life in the Pennines with little social interaction did not stop the Brontë sisters from becoming among the most vivid storytellers of their age.
Now some of the items that helped two of them, Charlotte and Emily, to translate the bleak windswept heather and wild moors landscape into the dramatic settings for Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are up for sale in what could be the last such auction for years.
Charlotte's desk and Emily's geometry set and art box could fetch as much as £17,000 when they go under the hammer at Sotheby's in London next month.
The Brontë treasures – which will be auctioned on December 17 – belonged to William Law, an avid 19th century collector of Brontëana who made frequent visits to Haworth where he bought items from Charlotte Brontë's widower, the Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls.
So keen was Law to make sure the items were not mistaken for worthless artefacts he went to the trouble of installing metal plaques, engraving the words "Desk belonging to Charlotte Brontë. Displayed in memory of W.Law Esq" on the George III mahogany desk, valued at up to £10,000, and "Artists box of Emily Jane Brontë, Ladies' Literary Society,Manchester" on the Regency mahogany artist's box, valued with the geometry set at up to £7,000.
One of the first sales from Law's collection was a paint box owned by Emily, which sold in 1907 at Sotheby's.
As the auction house deputy director, Dr Phillip Errington, explained these are the final few pieces of that collection.
He added: "You have to go back a long way back to find items like this for sale.
"The opportunity to buy something the Brontës owned is not common at all.
"We had a sale a few years ago, in December 2004, that included a unknown painting of Charlotte Brontë, a box and a pistol which was unmistakenly from Wuthering Heights."
Emily was only 30 when she died in 1848, having lived a very sheltered life in Haworth, West Yorkshire amid the bleak moors where she penned Wuthering Heights.
Her paint box and geometry set would have been one of the few items of entertainment she owned.
The front compartment contains three quill nibs, the middle compartment contains a square glass bottle and includes space for two round ink or water bottles, while the back section contains a paint tray with remnants of paint. Below the tray is space for the geometry set and a compartment containing three miniature envelopes, two sticks of sealing wax and a small circular box of miniature gummed labels.
The geometry set is in a morocco-covered box featuring a metallic label, which is inscribed : EJB.
The box contains seven items including a folding bone ruler and a retractable steel nib pen, and its front drawer includes nine ceramic fitted mixing dishes which are mostly stamped.
These stamps are for Ackermann, 96 The Strand, London and thanks to this address Sotheby's says the box can be dated back as far as 1827.
Ann Dinsdale, Collections Manager for the Brontë Parsonage Museum, explained: "They are very important pieces, especially anything relating to Emily Brontë.
"Because she was never famous during her own lifetime very few of her personal items or manuscripts were kept and are extremely rare."
Dr Errington agreed: "We have two very special items here. Items of Emily Brontë's are the holy grail of Brontë collections because she died a lot younger than her sister."
Charlotte, who also died young at the age of 37 in 1855 while pregnant, was also a keen artist.
Dr Errington said he was very excited about her desk because of its rarity. He said: "I wouldn't like to say definitively that this was Charlotte Brontë's writing desk she wrote her books on, but it was obviously important." (Simon Neville)

Sotheby's website includes pictures and further details on each item:

English Literature, History, Children's Books & Illustrations

Sale: L09777
DATE & TIME
Session 1: Thu, 17 Dec 09, 2:30 PM, Lots 1 - 182
LOCATION London

EXHIBITION
Location: London

Sun, 13 Dec 09, 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Mon, 14 Dec 09, 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Tue, 15 Dec 09, 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Wed, 16 Dec 09, 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Lot 76
REGENCY MAHOGANY ARTIST'S BOX AND GEOMETRY SET FORMERLY BELONGING TO EMILY BRONTË

5,000—7,000 GBP

Description
Early nineteenth century, the rectangular hinged top bearing the trade label of R. Ackermann enclosing a box in three compartments, also front drawer, 81mm. (height) by 310mm. (width) by 209mm. (depth)
The front compartment contains three quill nibs, one steel nib on a wooden handle and two wooden handles. The middle compartment includes space for two round ink or water bottles (with one square glass bottle present and some loss and damage to the wooden surround). This compartment includes a removable lid on which there is a metal plaque. This reads 'Artists Box of Emily Jane Brontë Ladies' Literary Society Manchester'. The back compartment comprises a paint tray with remnants of paint and some loss to individual compartment dividers. Below the tray is space for the geometry set and a compartment containing three miniature envelopes, two sticks of sealing wax and a small circular box of miniature gummed labels.
The geometry set comprises a morocco-covered box with a central metalic label inscribed 'EJB'. The box contains seven items including a folding bone ruler and a retractable steel nib pen.
The front drawer includes nine ceramic fitted mixing dishes mostly stamped 'Ackermann 96 Strand'.
The Brontë sisters' interest in art is well-documented. This artist's box can be dated after 1827 since that was the date when Ackerman moved business premises from 101 Strand to 96 Strand. Charlotte Brontë's paint box, from the sale of Mr Nicholls' collection, was sold in these rooms in 1907. It is now owned by the Brontë Pasonage Museum. (See more pictures)

Lot 74
GEORGE III MAHOGANY DESK FORMERLY BELONGING TO CHARLOTTE BRONTË

7,000—10,000 GBP

Description
Last quarter eighteenth century, the sloping top with a reading ledge above a frieze drawer, on moulded square legs joined by stretchers, 864mm. (height) by 640mm. (width) by 448mm. (depth)
There is a metal plaque attached to a horizontal ledge at the back of the desk. This reads 'Desk Belonging to Charlotte Brontë Displayed in Memory of W. Law Esq.'
This, and the following two lots, were formerly part of the collection of William Law (c.1836-1901). Law was an avid collector of Brontëana and made numerous visits to Haworth which included purchases from Charlotte Brontë's widower, the Rev. A.B. Nicholls. After the formation of the Brontë Museum Law donated a number of items but also gave material to the nurse who attended to him before his death. Material from the same source was previously offered in these rooms, 16 December 2004, lots 111-119. (See more pictures)

Lot 75
A COLLECTION OF MATERIAL OWNED BY MEMBERS OF THE BRONTË FAMILY OR THE COLLECTOR WILLIAM LAW, COMPRISING:

1,500—2,000 GBP

Description
[Brontë, Emily?] Church and graveyard, 105 by 80mm., pencil drawing, unsigned, framed and glazed--[Brontë Family]. Pair of sugar tongs apparently belonging to the Brontës, c. 90mm. long, hallmarked 'GA', London, 1854--[Brontë Family]. Ceramic circular pen or brush holder, 105mm. diameter, floral design with gilt decoration, some gilt edging eroded--[Law, William]. Victorian mahogany table display cabinet, with a sarcophagus shaped top above glazed sides incorporating a fall front panel, each corner with turned columns, altered, with miniature metal plaque ('Emily Brontë Wm. Law'), 635mm. (height) by 583mm. (width) by 333mm. (depth)--[Law, William]. Pocket cigar case, brown pigskin, silver monogram 'WL' by Allen & Wright London--[Law, William]. Embossed and gilded paper 'Farewell' memento, with poem, dated 1855, [?associated with the funeral of Charlotte Brontë--together with William Law's stationery case and wooden trunk; together with small folder of later newspaper clippings and 4 volumes (13 items)

And finally something quite different and not so very thrilling but Brontë-related all the same.

Lot 129
FOLIO SOCIETY.
A FINE COLLECTION OF 280 VOLUMES, INCLUDING FIVE LIMITED EDITIONS, COMPRISING:

3,000—5,000 GBP

Description
Joyce, J. Ulysses, 1998, number 913 of 1760 copies, full goatskin, folding box--Tolstoy, L. War and Peace, 2006, number 879 of 1750 copies, full goatskin, folding box--Life of St Edmund... [2004], number 377 of 1010 copies, full goatskin, together with volume of commentary, folding box--Cervantes, M. de. Don Quixote. 2005, number 74 of 1250 copies, full goatskin, folding box--Malory, Sir T. Le Morte Darthur. 2003, number 599 of 1020 copies, full goatskin, together with pamphlet, folding box--together with 273 others including: Austen, J. (8 vol.)--Beckett, S. (1 vol.)--Betjeman, J. (1 vol.)--Brontë Sisters (7 vol.)--Bunyan, J. (1 vol.)--Carlyle, T. (3 vol.)--Chekhov, A. (1 vol.)--Chesterton, G.K. (2 vol.)--Churchill, W.S. (10 vol.)--Coleridge, S.T. (1 vol.)--Darwin, C. (1 vol.)--Dickens, C. (13 vol.)--Domesday Book (3 vol.)--Donne, J. (1 vol.)--Galsworthy, J. (3 vol.)--Gaskell, E. (2 vol.)--Gibbon, E. (8 vol.)--Joyce, J. (1 vol.)--Keats, J. (1 vol.)--Kipling, R. (2 vol.)--Lang, A. (1 vol.)--Lawrence, T.E. (1 vol.)--Mansfield, K. (1 vol.)--Milton, J. (1 vol.)--Norwich, J.J. (4 vol.)--Priestley, J.B. (1 vol.)--Pym, B. (1 vol.)--Ruskin, J. (1 vol.)--Sackville West, V. 1--Shakespeare, W. (8 vol.)--Solzhenitsyn, A. (1 vol.)--Tolstoy, L. (3 vol.)--Trollope, A. (1 vol.)--Twain, M. (1 vol.)--White, T.H. (1 vol.)--Wilde, O. (1 vol.)--Williamson, H. (1 vol.)--Wordsworth, W. (1 vol.); 4to and 8vo, original bindings, slipcases (280)

Categories: Brontëana