Transatlantic competition

The Telegraph and Argus (and Keighley News) has an article on the Brontë letters going up for auction next week:

A rare and important letter written by Charlotte Brontë in between the deaths of her brother and a sister is expected to fetch up to $100,000 at an auction in New York later this month.
The letter, dated October 18, 1848, is to her publisher William Smith Williams, of Smith, Elder & Co, and will be up for auction on June 17 at Sotheby’s in New York, with a reserve of $70,000 to $100,000 (£50,000 to £71,000).
The letter is one of two [three, actually] up for auction from the James S Copley Library, based in California.
The second, dated from April 3, 1850, appears to give medical advice to her lifelong friend and correspondent Ellen Nussey. It has a reserve of $30,000 to $50,000 (£21,000 to £35,000).
Justin Caldwell, vice-president of department of books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, New York, said the first letter was of particular interest.
He said: “This is when she is working on her second novel Shirley. She’s had a big success with Jane Eyre of course and I would have to say this letter is certainly written on a day when she is very down.
“It’s certainly a letter full of gloom, I have to say. It is also an interesting letter because she is in mourning.”
The letter was written in the brief time between the deaths of her brother Branwell on September 24, and her sister Emily on December 19. Mr Caldwell said the second letter was also of interest and both had attracted interest on either side of the Atlantic.
He said: “I would say that certainly all three of the Brontes have a wide following here as well as in the UK, so I would expect some American bids, other American institutions as well as collectors.
“So I would say that certainly for these two letters there will be transatlantic competition. I’m really glad we have got these letters, we don’t see them too often here. These have been hidden away in the Copley Library for many years so they are fairly fresh on the market and with interesting content.” (James Rush)

We hope that soon the letter(s) will be going home to Haworth.

According to the Telegraph, a recent study reveals that, 'One in 10 foreign tourists come to Britain because they have fallen in love with a film location'. The connection sometimes is literary as well:

"It is now also commonly acknowledged that film plays a major role in shaping external perceptions and the 'brand' of individual destinations, for example in Yorkshire, whose popular image mirrors its rich history in film, from Jane Eyre and The Railway Children, which evoke its famous rolling scenery, all the way to The Full Monty and The Damned United which reflect its dominant working class culture."

Speaking of The Railway Children, the Yorkshire Post reports that the film is going to be used to promote Yorkshire nationally.

NewsFuze has a profile on Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor and of course her Brontëiteness comes to the surface in the 'favourite books' section.

On the blogosphere, Primarily History discusses a 19th-century assessment of Jane Eyre, Ivory Spring is reading - and liking - Juliet Gael's Romancing Miss Brontë. And finally, Il tempo di leggere posts in Italian about chapters 1-6 of Wuthering Heights as part of this reading group.

Categories: Brontëana, Brontëites, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV