'We now know there was a letter which is missing'

Keighley News reveals that the 'buyer from the North of England' who bought one of the two auctioned Charlotte Brontë envelopes was no other than the Brontë Society.

The Brontë Society has bought an envelope addressed by Charlotte Brontë at a private auction in Wiltshire.
The envelope was one of two written by Charlotte that were auctioned on Saturday for a total of £8,100.
The one bought by the Brontë Society, which runs the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, is post-marked 30 January 1849 and is addressed to Charlotte’s lifelong friend Ellen Nussey.
Charlotte’s sister Emily died the previous month and the envelope has a black border and the remains of a black seal.
Anne Brontë had recently been diagnosed with TB and it appears that Ellen has written a pencilled note on the envelope, stating that the contents discussed Anne’s condition.
Charlotte and Ellen met each other at Roe Head School near Mirfield in 1831 and wrote to each other regularly until Charlotte’s death in 1855.
Ann Dinsdale, Principal Curator at the Brontë Society, said the envelope was significant because it attested to the lifelong friendship between Charlotte Brontë and Ellen Nussey.
She said: “The two women lived almost 20 miles apart and visits were often difficult to arrange due to the lack of available transport or family obligations, so letters became the primary means of keeping in touch.
“Charlotte’s correspondence with Ellen was a huge support to her through the terrible loss of her brother and her two much-loved sisters over a nine-month period."
Ms Dinsdale said that although the Brontë Society had a significant number of Charlotte’s letters, its collection did not include one corresponding to this particular envelope.
She added: “We now know there was a letter which is missing, or that the date assigned to an existing letter is incorrect.”
The item will go on display next year at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of Brontë papers and personal possessions.
The envelope was discovered in the attic of a collector in the United States. A second envelope auctioned at the same time by Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes was purchased by an unknown bidder from the south of England.
The pre-auction estimates for each envelope was £800 to £1,200,
The envelope now owned by the Brontë Society is written in brown ink, has a Penny Red stamp and is postmarked "Leeds Jan 30 1849" and "Barnsley Keighley and Haworth" with the remains of a black seal. (David Knights)

And The Brontë Society itself announces the acquisition on its own website. Congratulations are due as well to the Brontë Parsonage Museum for being 'highly commended' at last night's White Rose Awards. Both the Brontë Parsonage and Rebecca Yorke tweeted about the event.

The BBC has announced the programmes that will make up its Christmas season and Sally Wainwright's To Walk Invisible is among them as expected. Many newspapers cover the story such as:

There will be excitement [...] over a one-off drama from Sally Wainwright on the Brontës, but in general the BBC will follow a tried-and-tested formula. (Jane Martinson in The Guardian)

Sally Wainwright, who won a Bafta for Happy Valley, has written To Walk Invisible, telling the story of the “extraordinary” Bronte sisters, “and the obstacles they faced to come from obscurity and produce some of the greatest novels of all time”. (Hannah Furness in The Telegraph)

The series' creator, Sally Wainwright, is also the mastermind behind To Walk Invisible – a drama telling the story of the three Brontë sisters. (Susanna Lazarus in Radio Times)

To Walk Invisible, BBC1
This one-off drama follows the extraordinary Brontë sisters who overcame so many obstacles in the early 19th century to write some of our nation’s most famous novels, including Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Chloe Pirrie, Charlie Murphy and Finn Atkins play Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë, while Adam Nagatis is their reckless brother Branwell and Jonathan Pryce plays their strict father. (Nick Cannon on WhatsOnTV)

BookBub Blog deems Wuthering Heights one of '16 Classic Books We’re Thankful For'.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Heathcliff, a young orphan, is adopted by Catherine Earnshaw’s father. Treated unkindly by her brother, Hindley, Heathcliff is at first protected by the elderly Mr. Earnshaw. When the elder Earnshaw passes away, Heathcliff is hurt and betrayed by both brother and sister, and leaves… until the day he returns to exact his revenge.
Emily Brontë demonic and brooding creation, Heathcliff, and the love-affair between him and Catherine, has fascinated and entranced readers for generations. It is a classic of gothic literature.
Why we’re thankful: Emily Brontë’s novel challenged the ideals of the 1800s, and Wuthering Heights has persevered throughout the centuries. (Vicki Lindem)

On a similar note, Bustle has '11 Famous Young Adult Authors Share The Books They're Most Thankful For'.

6. Jenn Marie Thorne, author of The Inside of Out, is grateful for...
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
"A gothic romance culminating in the line, 'Reader, I married him,' might not be the first novel you think of when referencing feminist literature, but Jane Eyre will always be the strong female protagonist of my heart. Weathering the cruelest of fates — cast aside by family, abused, left alone by the death of her sole friend, left heartbroken by a twist of romantic fate — Jane gets back up again. She reinvents herself over and over but never loses the iron core within herself, remaining throughout a young woman who knows her own mind and heart and who will not bend for anyone. There have been plenty of moments in my own life in which I’ve found myself donning a new identity — moving to the city for college, changing coasts and careers in my twenties, becoming a somewhat hapless new mother. But whenever I’ve felt I’m losing myself, Jane has always been there to remind me who I am: 'A free human being with an independent will.' For that, I am very thankful." (Sona Charaipotra)

Culturamas (Spain) looks at the key to the novel Los ángeles de hielo by Toni Hill.

Toni Hill hace referencia en su libro ” Los ángeles de hielo” a varias lecturas, quizás sea una buena oportunidad para releerlas o para acercaros a algunas de ellas:
La primera es sin duda “Jane Eyre” de Charlotte Brönte [sic]. Escrita en 1847. La novela se publicó bajo el pseudónimo de Currer Bell y tuvo un éxito inmediato. Cuenta la historia de Jane, una niña de 10 años que es custodiada por su tía política. Jane fue tomada a cargo cuando se quedó huérfana y pasará por una serie de humillaciones y pequeños maltratos. Más tarde, cuando ella empieza a rebelarse contra la injusta manera en que es tratada se la envía al colegio de Lowood. Y la historia de Jane continúa pero os animo a leer el libro ya que es un clásico de obligada lectura. (Sonia Rico) (Translation)