Two Drawings of Charlotte Brontë to be auctioned

An auction in Sotheby's taking place next July 10 contains interesting Brontë items:

English Literature, History, Children's Books and Illustrations
London, 10 July '12
2:30PM BST

LOT 60
Brontë, Charlotte

Derwent Water
95 by 154mm., fine pencil drawing, signed and dated "C. Brontë October 15th [18]32", together with title in author's hand, mounted, framed and glazed, some spotting.

Estimate 6,000-8,000 GBP
Provenance
Ellen Nussey?; J. Horsfall Turner; and thence by family descent

Catalogue Note
A re-discovered lost drawing by Charlotte Brontë, entirely missing during the twentieth century.
This drawing of a lake in the Lake District was lent to the Brontë Society in 1896 and listed in their Catalogue of Objects in the Museum of the Brontë Society. It was untraced by Christine Alexander and Jane Sellars for their The art of the Brontës (Cambridge, 1995).
This piece comprises Charlotte Brontë's drawing of an engraving by Thomas Allom, who published a number ofvolumes with his depictions of Cumberland in the 1830s. Charlotte is known to have drawn other views from Allom's illustrations (including Hartlepool Harbour and Cockermouth in January 1833).
In the absence of the original and based on 'the type of scene Charlotte was in the habit of copying', Alexander and Sellars suggested that Brontë's drawing was of 'Derwent Water, from the Castle Head, Cumberland'. The discovery of the original confirms their research.
The wooden backing to the frame includes a pencil note which appears to state "Given to me by Miss Nussy". Ellen Nussey (1817-97) was a lifelong friend of Charlotte Brontë, and the chief source for Gaskell's biography.


LOT 61
Brontë, Charlotte
Portrait of a Young Woman
160 by 120mm., pencil drawing, inscribed by Patrick Brontë "By my daughter, Charlotte P. Bronte, Min[iste]r.", framed and glazed, slight spotting.

Estimate 10,000-15,000 GBP
Provenance J. Horsfall Turner; and thence by family descent

Catalogue Note
This portrait of a young woman was printed, as a frontispiece illustration of Anne Brontë, within The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in the Thornton edition of the Novels of the Brontës (Edinburgh, 1907). The original was untraced by Christine Alexander and Jane Sellars for their The art of the Brontës (Cambridge, 1995). Attribution of the subject of this drawing as Anne Brontë is, as described by Alexander and Sellars, "suspect".
The sheet (with a 'Dobbs London' embossed stamp at the head) was evidently cut from a larger sheet for the reverse reveals a trimmed section of an entirely unknown pencil drawing showing trees by an abbey wall. The style of this drawing strongly suggests Charlotte as the artist.
We are grateful to Christine Alexander for her assistance in the cataloguing of these lots.

LOT 62
Brontë, Charlotte

Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. Edited by Currer Bell. Smith, Elder and Co., 1847

8vo (198 x 123mm), 3 volumes, first edition of the author's first published novel, half-titles, publisher's 32pp. catalogue dated June 1847 at the end of volume 1, without the extra advertisement leaf present in some copies (no priority), original dark greyish reddish brown vertically-ribbed cloth, covers decorated in blind with triple line border enclosing decorative trellis-like border, pale yellow endpapers, preserved in green cloth chemise and quarter green morocco slipcase, a few minor paper flaws, a few leaves slightly stained, other occasional spotting, some early repairs to joints, hinges slightly fragile or starting, repair to endpaper of volume 1, some edge-wear to covers.

Estimate 60,000-80,000 GBP
Provenance
"M.E. Hindhaugh" and "P.S. Macling", ownership signatures on endpapers; Hugh Walpole, with his "Brackenburn" book-label, sale of his library, Part I, Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd., 28 May 1945, lot 23
There is an eleven-line note in blue ink by Walpole on the verso of the front free endpaper of volume 1 ("When at last, after | waiting so long, I | possessed you as | you first appeared | to the world I felt | as though Rochester | had given me a nod | of recognition. | Hugh Walpole | Brackenburn | Nov: 16 1938")

Catalogue Note
A rare copy in the original cloth binding of the first edition of the author's finest novel, one of the most ground-breaking and enduring works of English Literature. Charlotte Brontë's heroine was something completely new in Victorian fiction: a woman confronting men on equal terms, telling her story with passion and honest feeling. The novel has been the inspiration for countless further literary works and stage and screen adaptations.