Not coming to Haworth

Bad news from the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

NEWLY DISCOVERED BRONTË MANUSCRIPT WILL NOT RETURN TO HAWORTH

The Brontë Society has been thwarted in its attempts to return an important Charlotte Brontë manuscript to the writer’s home in Haworth, West Yorkshire, now the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

The manuscript, which went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London on Thursday 15 December, was previously untraced and unpublished. It was expected to fetch between £200,000 - £300,000, though in the end sold for £580,000. The Society had been awarded a grant of £613,140 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), the UK’s fund of last resort for saving great heritage at risk. There was also support from the John Murray Archive, who pledged £20,000, the Friends of National Libraries, £10,000, and many donations in response to a public appeal launched by the Society. Unfortunately, this was not enough on the day as the hammer price plus the significant buyer’s commission took the final price to above the amount of money we could raise.

The miniature manuscript, or ‘little book’, measures just 35 x 61mm, but its 20 pages contain more than 4000 words of tiny script, produced by the young Charlotte Brontë in September 1830 when she was 14 years old. It is part of the second series of ‘The Young Men’s Magazines’ inspired by a set of toy soldiers bought for Branwell Brontë by his father in 1826. The series consists of six ‘little books’ four of which are already in the museum’s collection with the final one still remaining untraced.

Bonnie Greer, President of the Brontë Society, said:
‘This ‘’Little Book’’ puts down in luminous prose not only the daydreams of a little Yorkshire girl, but it also contains the seed of the work of one of the greatest writers in the English language, Charlotte Bronte. It will not be going home, back to the place where it all began, the Parsonage at Haworth. Its presence there would have placed it not only at the heart of the proud community in which she was born and raised, but would have brought full circle a Yorkshire story, a Northern story, a British story, a world story. We are hugely grateful to all those who supported our bid to bring this wonderful manuscript back to Haworth, especially the National Heritage Memorial Fund.’

These remarkable miniature manuscripts are amongst the most popular of exhibits with visitors to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, but also of great scholarly interest. In particular, they chart Charlotte Bronte’s development as a writer and reveal how many of her early themes carry over into her published novels. The first piece in this manuscript recounts how a murderer is driven to madness after being haunted by his victims, and how ‘an immense fire’ burning in his head causes his bed curtains to set alight, prefiguring the well-known scene in Jane Eyre, in which Rochester’s insane wife sets light to his bed curtains.

Andrew McCarthy, Director, Brontë Parsonage Museum, said:
‘This is unquestionably the most significant Brontë manuscript to come to light in decades and an important part of our broader literary heritage. It belongs in Haworth and we are bitterly disappointed that scholars and members of the public may now not have the opportunity to study and enjoy it as part of our public collection. We very much hope that we will be able to establish contact with the new owner.’

The BBC News reveals that the manuscript will actually be going to Paris:

A French museum has won a bidding war for an unpublished Charlotte Brontë manuscript, dashing hopes that it could return to the author's former home.
The Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits in Paris bought the second issue of Young Men's Magazine at auction for £690,850. It outbid the Brontë Parsonage Museum, based in the family's former house in Haworth, West Yorkshire. [...] Dr Philip Errington, director of books and manuscripts at auction house Sotheby's, said the work, which contains over 4,000 words on 19 pages, had "huge literary significance".
"This tiny manuscript represents her first burst of creativity and provides a rare and intimate insight into one of history's great literary minds," he said.
The Brontë Parsonage Museum already owns four of the six copies of the magazine. The whereabouts of the remaining edition are unknown.
The museum was awarded a grant of £613,140 by the National Heritage Memorial Fund to buy the artefact, as well as receiving a number of smaller donations.
But it was not enough to secure the book, which will now go on display in Paris in January.
Andrew McCarthy, director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, said it was "the most significant manuscript to come to light in decades".
Author and Brontë Society president Bonnie Greer said the book "puts down in luminous prose not only the daydreams of a little Yorkshire girl, but it also contains the seed of the work of one of the greatest writers in the English language".
"It will not be going home, back to the place where it all began, the Parsonage at Haworth," she said.
"Its presence there would have placed it not only at the heart of the proud community in which she was born and raised, but would have brought full circle a Yorkshire story, a northern story, a British story, a world story."
The Young Men's Magazine Number Two was sold by an anonymous private European collector.

Reuters reports the news as well. It seems that the Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits plans to put the manuscript in display in January. The Guardian adds:

Lucasta Miller, author of The Brontë Myth, described the sale as "a genuine loss. This manuscript embodies a phase in [Charlotte Brontë's] early development, and provides real insights into how she went on to produce her mature masterpieces, Jane Eyre and Villette. As a physical object it is not just of sentimental value. The tiny pages and the microscopic writing embody the nature of her creativity so uncannily that you have to see the manuscript in the flesh truly to feel and understand how her imagination worked."
La Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits intends to put the manuscript on display in January. Sarah Laycock, Library and Collections Officer of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, said they would request a transcript so that Brontë scholars would be able to make use of the pamphlet, while McCarthy said he hoped they could arrange a loan.
This year saw film adaptations of both Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë's only novel Wuthering Heights released within weeks of each other. The boom in interest in the Brontës has proved a double-edged sword for specialists.
"The films have generated a lot of interest," said Laycock. "This auction's had a lot of media attention and that may have driven up the price." (Alex Needham)