Thornbush Farm to be auctioned

Screen Daily reports that Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights has already started filming in the the UK.

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi has begun filming in the UK at Sky Studios Elstree for Warner Bros. 

Based on the Emily Brontë novel, the story centres on the intense relationship between the daughter of a well-to-do family and the mysterious orphaned boy they take in.

Further cast include Hong Chau, Alison Oliver and Shazad Latif.

Fennell has written the screenplay and has a producer credit alongside Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment. MRC is financing the film.

Warner Bros has set a February 2026 release date. (Ellie Calnan)

The Yorkshire Post reports that Thornbush Farm, where Patrick Brontë lived once, is to be auctioned.

The Reverend Brontë, the father of the writers Emily, Charlotte and Anne, lived at the West Yorkshire farm in the early 19th century. Fans of the Brontës will get the chance to restore the building if they submit a successful bid in a property auction.

A spokesman said: “Thornbush Farm on Miry Lane is now in a derelict state, but in the 19th century it featured two sturdy adjoining stone cottages and was better known as Lousy Farm. In 1811, it became the home of the future Brontë patriarch, Reverend Patrick Brontë, marking the foundation of one of the most famous literary families in Britain.

"Reverend Patrick lived at the farm after taking up his first full ministry, lodging with his landlords Mr and Mrs Bedford. While there, he met and married his wife, Maria Branwell, and they had the first of their two children, Maria and Elizabeth, who sadly died during childhood. He also found time to author and publish his first work, Cottage Poems.”

During their time at the cottage, the family witnessed part of the Luddite riots and the march to Rawfords Mill, which went past their front door. This event was later described by Charlotte Brontë in her novel Shirley. (Greg Wright)

The Telegraph and Argus reports it as well:

A derelict farm that was once home to the father of the Brontë sisters is set to be auctioned.

Thornbush Farm on Miry Lane, Liversedge, will be sold by Auction House West Yorkshire on February 5.

The Reverend Patrick Brontë's former lodging has a guide price of £380,000, plus fees.

While the property is currently in a derelict state, in the 19th century it featured two sturdy adjoining stone cottages and was better known as Lousy Farm.

In 1811, it became the home of the future Brontë patriarch, "marking"- per a spokesperson for Auction House - "the foundation of one of the most famous literary families in Britain."

The farm is set in 8.5 acres of land and has "gorgeous" countryside views.

The Reverend lived at the farm after taking up his first full ministry.

He lodged there with his landlords, Mr and Mrs Bedford.

While there, he met and married his wife, Maria Branwell, and they had the first of their two children, Maria and Elizabeth, who sadly died during childhood.

He also found time to author and publish 'Cottage Poems.'

During their time at the cottage, the family witnessed Luddite riots and a march on Rawfolds Mill, which bypassed their front door.

This event was later written about by Charlotte Brontë in her novel 'Shirley.'

The young family are thought to have remained at Lousy Farm until around 1815, thereafter living at Thornton, the birthplace of the authors Emily, Charlotte, and Anne, and of their brother, Branwell.

Commenting on the property, director and auctioneer of Auction House West Yorkshire, James Pank, said: "This is a unique opportunity to take ownership of a site with a fascinating history and perhaps restore or reimagine a vital piece of Britain’s literary heritage."

Thornbush Farm in Liversedge will be sold via livestream auction on February 5 at 12pm.

To learn more about the property or to book a viewing, buyers can call Auction House West Yorkshire on 0113 393 3482 or visit https://www.auctionhouse.co.uk/westyorkshire (Will Abbott)

Also in Country Life:

The popular image of the Brontë family — the world-famous novelists Charlotte, Emily and Anne, their impressive father Patrick, and their rather less famous brother Branwell — is one that’s indelibly linked to Haworth, the surrounding moors, and Haworth Parsonage itself where the three girls grew up. (Also Branwell.)

The famous parsonage wasn’t the original family home, however. After graduating from Cambridge in 1806, the Irish-born clergyman and writer Patrick Brontë had several different postings within the Church of England, living in Essex and Shropshire before eventually ending up in Yorkshire. He became a curate based at the Church of St Peter in Hartshead, near Liversedge, in 1811; and whilst there lived at the chillingly-named Lousy Farm. During this stint he met Maria Branwell, who he fell in love with and married on 29 December, 1812. And Lousy Farm, where they first lived as husband and wife, is now for sale via Auction House West Yorkshire.

The farm is now entirely dilapidated, which is the bad news. The good news, for literary fans looking to snap up a piece of Brontë history, is that it’s in the February 5 auction with a guide price of just £380,000, to include the buildings and almost eight acres of land. Considering that this is in the heart of West Yorkshire, between Leeds and Huddersfield, that’s a lot of land for the price.

Then again, it’s clear that a lot of money — a lot — will have to be spent on the property to return it to any sort of useful state.

Fiction Matters interviews Layne Fargo about her novel The Favorites:

Sara Hildreth: Can you give readers a brief summary of The Favorites for those who haven't read it yet?

Layne Fargo: A modern retelling of Wuthering Heights about the toxic, decades-spanning romance between a pair of hot mess ice dancers.

SH: Can you share your initial inspiration for the novel? How and at what point in the writing process did Wuthering Heights come into The Favorites?

LF: The Favorites came out of two other failed projects: a Gothic romance and a thriller about rival ice dance teams. I kept bouncing back and forth between the two, desperately trying to make them work but they just… didn’t. I picked up Wuthering Heights, which I hadn’t read since high school, hoping to find some inspiration for the Gothic book, and instead I thought: what about a Wuthering Heights retelling with ice dancers? Then I thought I’d lost my mind (this was deep into the pandemic FYI, when we were all feeling a little unhinged!), but my critique partner assured me it was a good idea. So I went for it and quickly found that mashing up Wuthering Heights and figure skating worked better than I could have imagined.

Sara’s note: When I heard about this premise I immediately knew it was genius because of partner swapping. The world of ice dancing is full of messy breakups and new partnerships and so is the Gothic tale of Wuthering Heights.

SH: What are some of your favorite nods to WH and the Brontës that appear in your novel?

LF: Pretty much all the character names are Brontë Easter eggs. Jane Currer = Jane Eyre + Charlotte Brontë’s pen name Currer Bell. Inez Acton = Agnes Gray (Inez is the Spanish version of Agnes) + Anne Brontë’s pen name Acton Bell. And of course Ellis Dean is Nelly Dean from Wuthering Heights + Emily Brontë’s pen name Ellis Bell!

I can’t get too specific about this one because it’s a spoiler, but there’s a character whose last name came from a real-life person who said some not so nice things about Emily Brontë back in the day — so giving their surname to this particular character is my petty literary revenge.

The Collector lists the '5 Most Influential English Ghost Stories' and one of them is

Wuthering Heights (1847), by Emily Brontë

Emily Brontë’s Gothic masterpiece is remembered for its tempestuous lovers, windswept moors and tragic family drama. However, when creating her novel, Emily Brontë chose to open with a violent and terrifying ghostly encounter. In the opening of the novel, Lockwood (the narrator), spends the night in a forbidden bedroom after being caught in a storm. He has read the names Catherine alongside Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Linton, all carved in the wooden window frame.

As he sleeps, he is awoken by a knocking on the window pane and, thinking it a branch, reaches out to break it. The reader is then startled to read that Linton’s wrist is grasped by the ice-cold fingers of Cathy’s ghost. Her specter cries that she has been ‘a waif for twenty years,’ have inspired countless other works of fiction including the song Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush. (Lauren Jones)

Cosmopolitan labels Jane Eyre as a 'sad girl'. 

Sad girls have existed in literature for hundreds of years like my girl Jane Eyre. (Zoulfa Katouh)

The New York Times on Maria Grazia Chiuri's designs for Dior:

Since she arrived at Dior in 2016, Ms. Chiuri has often resolutely focused on clothes so subtly accessible they can verge on the banal. But though there were pieces like that in the show, including a great little sleeveless black trapeze shift with ruffles for straps, it was the skirts, built on a carapace of bamboo, covered in trailing vines of flowers made from raffia, feathers and lace, and resembling the love child of an octopus and a parasol, that dominated. Also the playsuits and bloomers (items of clothing that normally have no place in a grown-up woman’s wardrobe) made from tulle covered in appliqués that seemed to swirl around the body like mist, popping out from under buttoned-up Jane Eyre jackets as though impossible to restrain. (Vanessa Friedman)

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Cottage Poems

A new paperback edition of Patrick Bronté's Cottage Poems:

Cottage Poems
by Patrick Brontë
Paperback: 76 pages
Publisher: Leopold Classic Library (March 20, 2015)

Leopold Classic Library is delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive collection. As part of our on-going commitment to delivering value to the reader, we have also provided you with a link to a website, where you may download a digital version of this work for free. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. Whilst the books in this collection have not been hand curated, an aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature. As a result of this book being first published many decades ago, it may have occasional imperfections. These imperfections may include poor picture quality, blurred or missing text. While some of these imperfections may have appeared in the original work, others may have resulted from the scanning process that has been applied. However, our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. While some publishers have applied optical character recognition (OCR), this approach has its own drawbacks, which include formatting errors, misspelt words, or the presence of inappropriate characters. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with an experience that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic book, and that the occasional imperfection that it might contain will not detract from the experience.

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Fire at Thornfield Plus Emily's Poetry

Two new compilations with Brontë-related content:

Opening Doors to Famous Poetry and Prose. 
Ideas and Resources for Accessing Literary Heritage Works
by Bob Cox
Crown House Publishing
Format: Paperback with CD Rom
Published: September 2014
ISBN 13: 9781845908966

Opening Doors provides 20 units of work covering poetry and prose from our literary heritage. Each unit comes with exciting stimulus material and creative suggestions for ways in which the material can be used for outstanding learning possibilities. Illustrations and innovative ideas to help pupils access the meaning and wonder of the text add to the book’s appeal.
Pupils are encouraged, throughout the units of work, to engage with language, invent questions and write with flair and accuracy, bringing literature from the past to life and opening doors to further reading and exploration.
Also included is an introduction to the concepts used in the book and suggestions for a range of methods and pathways which can lead to language development and literary appreciation. Although the units are diverse and have a range of poetry and prose for teachers to use, the book presents cohesive methods for engaging children with a variety of different literary texts and improving standards of literacy.
Opening Doors both informs and excites. It contains everything you need for outstanding English lessons, including a free CD full of resources for primary English, including extracts from the literary works and activities to get started with. Let’s begin.
For teachers of 7–11 year olds.

Includes:

Part 2: Opening doors to prose
14. Fire at Thornfield – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

100 Poems To See You Through
by Daisy Goodwin
Published by Ebury Press
ISBN: 9780091958176
Published: 4 Sep 2014

When times are tough - whether because of illness, bereavement or receiving bad news - it can be hard to find the right words. Help comes in the form of this beautifully packaged gift book, comprising 100 life-affirming poems handpicked by an expert on poetry. Grouping the poems by theme - from 'Hearing Bad News' to 'How To Carry On' - this gem of a book features contributions from classical poets such as John Keats, Emily Brontë, W.H. Auden and Christina Rossetti alongside lines from more contemporary poets such as Philip Larkin, Elizabeth Jennings, Raymond Carver, Carol Ann Duffy and Wendy Cope. It adds up to a wonderful pick-me-up - a self-administered drug guaranteed to make a dark day brighter and act as a great lyrical crutch.

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Scholars in the Cottage and in the Mill

Two new contributions to Brontë scholarship:

Vestiges 3: Patrick Brontë
by Adam Crothers
PN Review 212, Volume 39 Number 6, July - August 2013.

While his title threatens quaintness, Patrick Brontë expresses at the opening of The Cottage in the Wood (1815) his determination not to patronise the rural poor. He scorns the 'sensual novelist' who portrays palaces as 'the certain abodes of misery' and cottages as 'the never-failing sources of happiness'; such notions are rooted in material wealth, ultimately immaterial to the question of one's soul.

But well-worn fictions are apparently useful: having railed against the clichés of the noble poor and the corrupt rich, Brontë writes of William Bower - the drunken, licentious and rich atheist pictured here in the 1818 edition's frontispiece - ultimately finding God and happiness via Mary, the strong-willed and 'interesting' daughter of the Cottage's Christian household. (This, sweetly, from an author whose daughters could not be called uninteresting.) Bower's religious awakening - his conversion from an opportunist of the boudoir (bower) to a humbled (bowed) addition to the Cottage (bower) family - comes when he loses his money, and while he and Mary are financially secure when married, the suggestion remains that one must find happiness in poverty in order to possess it when rich.

Networked Manufacture in Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley
Peter J. Capuano
Victorian Studies
Volume 55, Number 2, Winter 2013
pp. 231-242

Abstract:

This paper confronts many years of displacement-based readings of Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley (1849) with a historicized “surface reading” that connects the manual labor of two very distinct constituencies in the novel: hardened Luddite machine breakers and dispossessed middle-class women. A surface-level line of inquiry into manufactured objects reveals an inverted network from the mill to the parlor; the redundancy of human hands caused by mechanization in the mill is concurrent with a surplus of female handiwork in the novel’s middle-class homes. I argue that this inversion makes sense if we situate the novel in its 1811–12 setting—the unique historical moment when the term “manufacture” began to accrue paradoxically opposed meanings. Brontë’s oscillation between mechanized and manual forms of manufacture in Shirley marks the early boundaries of what would eventually become the rigidly defined separate spheres of mid-century Victorian life.

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Heathcliff would make Gripper Stebson cry

John Walsh in The Independent quotes again from a Charlotte/Ellen exchange of letters concerning the sea for an article about British seaside resorts:

In the summer of 1839, Charlotte Brontë, then working as a governess in Skipton, Yorkshire, wrote to her friend Ellen Nussey about her holiday plans. At the age of 23, she said, she'd never been to the coast, never seen a beach, never clapped eyes on rolling waves. The prospect of doing so, on a proposed trip to Bridlington, was intensely exciting: "The idea of seeing the sea – of being near it – watching its changes by sunrise, sunset, moonlight and noonday – in calm, perhaps in storm – fills and satisfies my mind. I shall be discontented at nothing." Did she feel a big anticlimax on finally clapping eyes on the briny? Not at all. According to Ms Nussey, she "was quite overpowered, she could not speak until she had shed some tears ... her eyes were red and swollen, she was still trembling ... for the remainder of the day she was very quiet, subdued and exhausted."

Check this previous post for more precise information about the aforementioned quote.

Why do UK Prime Ministers tend strangely to compare themselves to the wrong literary/TV character? The Telegraph comments on David Cameron's joke comparing himself to Gripper Stebson's character in Grange Hill and of course remembers Gordon Brown's Heathcliffgate:

Gordon Brown claimed to identify with Heathcliff, Emily Brontë's complex Byronic brooder, but frankly appeared more short-tempered than saturnine. (Judith Woods)

The Wall Street Journal reviews The Wave Watcher's Companion by Gavin Pretor-Pinney:

Allusions to Robert Burns and Emily Brontë share space with the film maker Jacques Tati and the movie "When Harry Met Sally" (the scene where Harry tells a friend about his failing marriage as both men compulsively do "the wave" at a baseball game). (Jennifer Ouellette)

The Daily O'Collegian challenges one recurrent romantic fantasy:

Our culture insists on telling women to believe one whopping fallacy: a man can change with the love of a good woman.
Novels such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, movies as diverse as Rebel without a Cause and The Breakfast Club and reality shows such as Dad Camp and Tool Academy sell this falsehood. (Karen Sisk)

Unthinkable? gives a Brontë example in an article about Kindle:

All I can say is that somewhere at Amazon there is a graph showing how many of everything they can se ll if the price of the Kindle gets reduced to $99, and then watch these numbers explode. Even a cheapskate like me will buy a Kindle at that price just to read Jane Eyre and the like.(US Chick)

Regrettably Bessie A. Winn-Afeku (in The Huffington Post) will not have a good memory of Jane Eyre (Kindle reading or not):

I spent so much time writing thesis papers about Jane Eyre I never wanted to write for fun.

Marie Claire talks about the London boutique Apartment C which apparently has curious new initiatives:

The venue also provides guests with the option of listening to romantic readings, given by a wandering handsome waiter, ranging from classics such as Wuthering Heights to the wonderfully trashy Love machine by Jacqueline Suzanne.

We think that Colin Sokolowski doesn't qualify to enter our Brontëite ranks:

What was your first favorite book?
Either Lord of the Flies or Of Mice and Men. I seem to recall they were among the first books I actually didn’t fake book reports on for my ninth-grade English class (unlike Wuthering Heights). (Jodi Chromey in Minnesota Reads)

A retired teacher and Brontëite in Fort Mill Times, Touring Old Blighty visits Brontë country, No Charge Bookbunch posts about Romancing Miss Brontë, Reading at the Moonlight reviews Rachel Ferguson's The Brontës Went to Woolworths (in Spanish), jill_rg asks for help in the interpretation of a scene of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Breakfast at Lucie's and La vie page à page... review Agnes Grey in French, Eygam who cried Wolf reviews Wuthering Heights in Czech and Les Brontë à Paris posts about Patrick Brontë's Cottage Poems in French.

Categories: Agnes Grey, Books, Charlotte Brontë, Cottage Poems, Fiction, Jane Eyre, References, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights

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An auction in New York

Via Jane Austen in Vermont we have found this auction which takes place next May 6 in New York with very interesting Brontë material:

Bloomsbury Auctions-New York

The Paula Peyraud Collection, Samuel Johnson and Women Writers in Georgian Society

Wednesday, 6 May, 2009 • 10:00 am

Bloomsbury Auctions, the world’s leading auction house for rare books and works on paper, announces The Paula Peyraud Collection, Samuel Johnson and Women Writers in Georgian Society with over 480 lots of books, manuscripts and paintings tells the fascinating story of English society in the middle and late Georgian periods. This extraordinary sale focuses on the artistic and literary women who came to the fore in the period 1750-1840.

The Brontë lots are the following ones:

164. BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855). An envelope adressed to Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell. [N.p., c.1851]. The original envelope adressed to Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell of 9 Sussex Place, Regents Park, London.with a penny postage stamp, 5 bishop’s postal stamps dated 4 January 1851 and a red wax seal. (65 x 108mm). Postal stamps prove the letter had passed through Leeds, Haworth and Reighley, England. Condition: later pencil notations, some slight soiling. Provenance: From Kenneth W. Rendell, January 1975.
[With:] An unrelated fragment of an autograph letter. [N.p., c.1853]. Written in 14 lines on either side of lower half page (72 x 110mm). Condition: later pencil notations accrediting the letter to Brontë, slightly faded, some creases. An intriguing letter fragment reading, " I hope you admire our advanced civilization; we have a Mechanic's Institute soiree, we drink tea , we make speeches; we vary the evenings' entertainment with vocal and…" (2)
$700 – $1000

EDIT: Sold for $500

165. BRONTË, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. London: Smith and Elder, 1846 [1848]. 12mo (165 x 105 mm). Errata slip and May, 1848 publisher's catalogue at rear. Original dark green vertical ribbed cloth, stamped in blind, spine and upper cover gilt-stamped with "4/-" below cover title, the backslash being slightly larger than on the earliest copies, denoting a variant binding. In custom green cloth case. Condition: front hinge separating, rear signature loosening; one lower corner just starting to expose, very minor smudging on upper cover. Provenance: contemporary, but alas undated, presentation to pastedown, "Mr. Ellis to Miss Sarah Dawes." Frederic Dannay (1905-1982), co-author, with his cousin Manfred B. Lee of the Ellery Queen mystery & dectective stories and collector of English and American Poetry (sale Christie's New York, 16 December, 1983, lot 44, $400, C.A. Stonehill).
first edition, second issue. A title with a famously complex history of issue. The present is of course one of the unsold 961 copies from an original printing of 1,000 for publisher Aylott and Jones that Smith, Elder and Company bought in September, 1848 after the success of Jane Eyre. Upon acquiring the sheets and cases, the new publisher issued copies in a number of differing bindings, the present binding being one of the scarcer (see Smith, pp. 11-12).
An inlaid 1950 letter from John Carter comments on the "amateurish" look of the spine lettering, and additionally, having examined the present copy personally, remarks that it is only the third copy of this variant he has seen.
Hayward 266 (second isssue); Smith 1, second issue, pp. 6-14.
$1500 – $2500
EDIT: Sold for $2400

166. BRONTË, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1846 [1848]. 12mo(165 x 100 mm). Errata slip following contents page, July 1850 publisher's catalogue at rear. Modern blue half morocco, with original light green cloth spine and lower cover bound in. Condition: some faint dampstaining in lower margin or fore-edge a few signatures. Provenance: Paula Peyraud (bookplate).
first edition, second issue. A copy rebound from one of the later issue bindings. In spite of the popularity of Jane Eyre, this title sold very slowly, with 682 copies remaining in stock as of 1853. It would be another 7 years before the initial printing was finally exhausted. Hayward 266; Smith 1, second issue, pp. 6-14; together with Gaskell; Life of Charlotte Brontë, 1857, 2 vols., first edition. (3)
$400 – $600
EDIT: Sold for $1700

167. [BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855)]. Shirley. A Tale. London: Smith Elder, & Co., 1849. 3 volumes, 8vo (205 x 130 mm). Modern red half morocco over cloth boards, gilt. Condition: hinges rubbed.
first edition. Publisher's catalogue dated October 1849. Sadleir 348. (3)
$500 – $800
EDIT: Sold for $400

168. [BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855)]. Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. Edited by Currer Bell. London: Smith Elder, & Co., 1847. 3 volumes, 8vo (205 x 125 mm). Original grey-purple fine ribbed cloth, blocked in blind, by Westleys & Clark with binders stamp on rear paste-down, stamped in blind, gilt lettering to spines, housed in matching brown cloth slipcase by Rivière. Condition: occasional very light foxing; recased, some wear and repair to spines, slight scuffing. Provenance: contemporary ownership signatures to rectos of front endpapers; from Seven Gables Bookshop, May 1976.
first edition, with advertisements in volume 1 dated June 1947. Charlotte Brontë's first novel and the first novel published by any of the Brontë sisters. This edition is believed to have had a print run of around 500 copies. Grolier English 83; Sadleir 346; Tinker 379; Wolff 826. (3)
$30000 – $40000
EDIT: Sold for $38000

169. [BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855)]. Villette. London: Smith Elder, & Co., 1853. 3 volumes, 8vo (200 130 mm). Original dark green cloth, blocked in blind, with Westleys & Co binders stamp in vol. 1. Condition: slightly cocked, light wear to edges and spines, some discoloration, inner hinges cracked. Provenance: Captain Hargreaves (bookplate); Ex Libris Baldwin (booklabel); un-named owner, Sotheby's New York, 16 May 1984, lot 188, $500.
first edition, with advertisements dated January 1853. Sadleir 349; Wolff 828. (3)
$2000 – $3000
EDIT: Sold for $2200

170. [BRONTË, Charlotte (1816-1855)]. The Professor. London: Smith Elder, & Co., 1857. 2 volumes, 8vo (200 x 130 mm). Original grey-purple cloth, blocked in blind. Condition: spines faded and with wear to head and foot, slight wear to extremities of joints sunned with some exposure, slightly cocked and rubbed.
first edition, with 16 pp. of ads at the end of vol. II dated June, 1857. Sadleir 347; Wolff 827. (2)
$500 – $800
EDIT: unsold

171. BRONTË, Rev. Patrick (1777-1861). Cottage Poems. Halifax: P.K. Holden for the author, 1811. 12mo (164 x 100 mm). Half-title. Original blue paper over boards, rebacked with linen. Condition: margins browned, spottting, some finger-soiling to few leaves; recased. Provenance: Lynch-Jagger Library (manuscript bookplate); from B & L Rootenberg.
first edition. A book of instruction for those in his parish, Patrick Brontë was the first of the Brontës to publish.
$600 – $800
EDIT: Sold for $550

Categories: Alert, Books, Cottage Poems, Jane Eyre, Poetry, Shirley, The Professor, Villette

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The Visionary and other Poems publications

New editions of Brontë poetry:

The Visionary and Other Poems
Author: Emily Brontë
Salt Publishing
Series: Salt Pocket Classics
ISBN: 9781844715572
Pub date: 01-Apr-09

Emily Brontë’s poetry was published under the male pseudonym of Ellis Bell, in order to avoid the prejudice against women writers. This new selection gathers poems from her first collection (a collaboration with her sisters, Charlotte and Anne) with works published after her death, it offers readers an insight into one of the nineteenth century’s most important lyrics poets.
Brontë’s poetry is filled with gothic romance and elemental forces, it is emotionally charged, even turbulent, filled with spiritual bliss and unsublimated desires. Had she lived longer, her poetry may well have superceded the popularity of her novel, but she was dead at thirty, and we are left with the tantalising legacy of these exquisitely composed lyrics.
Selected by Chris Emery and published to coincide with National Poetry Month, April 2009.

Table of contents:

Faith and Despondency Stars The Philosopher Remembrance A Death-Scene Song Anticipation The Prisoner Hope A Day Dream To Imagination How Clear She Shines Sympathy Plead For Me Self-Interrogation Death

Stanzas To ——— Honour’s Martyr Stanzas My Comforter The Old Stoic ‘Shall earth no more inspire thee’ The Night-Wind ‘Ay — there it is! it wakes to-night …’ Love and Friendship The Elder’s Rebuke Warning and Reply Last Words The Lady to Her Guitar The Visionary Encouragement ‘Often rebuked, yet always back returning …’ ‘No coward soul is mine …’

Click here to view a sample.

Cottage Poems
Patrick Brontë

Publisher Dodo Press
Imprint LULU PR
ISBN: 9781409933489
Format Paperback
Publication date 01 Feb 2009
Pages 56

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and Other Poems
Thomas Gray
Penguin
Paperback : 02 Apr 2009
Format : Paperback
ISBN: 9780141190839
Size : 111 x 181mm
Pages : 112

The English countryside has inspired some of the most exquisite and well-loved poetry ever composed in the language. This selection of verse includes, among others, Thomas Gray's reflective and moving meditation on mortality, 'Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard', the soaring beauty of Wordsworth's lines on Tintern Abbey and Keats' ode to Autumn, the deceptively simple words of Emily Brontë and the personal and evocative verse of Thomas Hardy, bringing together the greatest riches of English poetry. Generations of inhabitants have helped shape the English countryside - but it has profoundly shaped us too. It has provoked a huge variety of responses from artists, writers, musicians and people who live and work on the land - as well as those who are travelling through it. "English Journeys" celebrates this long tradition with a series of twenty books on all aspects of the countryside, from stargazey pie and country churches, to man's relationship with nature and songs celebrating the patterns of the countryside (as well as ghosts and love-struck soldiers).

Categories: Books, Cottage Poems, Emily Brontë, Poetry

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Brontë editions. Update

From time to time we like to post about the new editions of Brontë novels that become available:

Do you remember the (in)famous Bloomsbury editions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights ? Bloomsbury now edit both of them with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice under the name: Younger Readers Classic Christmas Collection.

• Younger Readers Classic Christmas Collection Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; Pride and Prejudice Bronte, Charlotte, Bronte, Emily, Austen, Jane
• Item ID: CBUND00027
• Paperback
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

1st World Library publishes Wuthering Heights (cover on the right):

• Hardcover: 372 pages
• Publisher: 1st World Library, Ltd (2 Nov 2006)
• ISBN-10: 1421823225

AssistedReadingBooks publishes several editions of Charlotte Brontë's Shirley and Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall:

Shirley Volume 1 & 2 [EasyRead Comfort Edition]

• Paperback: 584 pages (Vol 1) - 472 pages (Vol 2)
• Publisher: Assistedreadingbooks.com Inc (1 Nov 2006)
• ISBN-10: 1425050506 (Vol 1) - 1425051014 (Vol2)

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 1 & 2 [EasyRead Comfort Edition]

Paperback: 392 pages (Vol 1) - 384 pages (Vol 2)
ISBN-10: 1425050689 (Vol 1) - 1425050654 (Vol 2)

There are also EasyRead Editions and EasyRead Large Editions of both books.

The Echo Library has added to its catalogue Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë:

ISBN: 1406831921
Pages: 332
Publisher: Paperbackshop.Co.UK Ltd - Echo Library
Publication date: 01 Nov 2006

IndyPublish is also publishing Patrick Brontë's Cottage Poems:

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Indypublish.com (13 Nov 2006)
• ISBN-10: 1428041222

Categories: Biography, Books, Cottage Poems, Shirley, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wuthering Heights

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Patrick's house in Hartshead, saved

This is Bradford and Leeds Today publish how Thornbush Farm, the house in which the Reverend Patrick Bronte lodged at the three-bedroom cottage while a curate at Hartshead church between 1811 and 1815.

Quoting Dudley Green's Letters of the Reverend Patrick Brontë:

In March 1811, Patrick took up the appointment of Perpetual Curate of St. Peter's Hartshead. Although the parish of Hartshead-cum-Clifton lay within the parish of Dewsbury, this appointment represented his first independent living. Withing a year of his arrival growing industrial unrest broke out into the Luddite riots. These were centred on Patrick's parish and culminated in the attack on Rawfold's Mill near Cleckheaton, on the night of 11 April 1812. While Patrick was opposed to any acts of violence against property, he is said to have had a personal sympathy for rioters seeking to bury their death under cover of night. During his time at Harthsead Patrick saw the publication of his first literary work: Cottage Poems, intended as a form of education of the poor. In July 1812 he was invited by John Fennell, the headmaster of Woodhouse Grove School, Rawdon (a newly founded school for the sons of Methodist ministers), to examine the boys on Classics. While he was at the school he met Maria Branwell, the headmaster's niece, who had come from Penzance to help her uncle and aunt on the domestic side. Patrick and Maria rapidly fell in love and they were married on 19 December 1812. Their two eldest daughters were born in Hartshead, Maria (January 1814) and Elizabeth (8 February 1815).

As the church didn't have a Parsonage-House, Patrick was on lodgings. From September 1812, he was at Lousy Farm, just opposite the church. Lousy Farm now is known as Thornbush Farm. Later he move to Clough House, on the same road as the farm. In the Brontë Gazette (September 2004), Imelda Marsden was asking for help as the house was in serious danger:

“Last year Lousy Farm just off Buttershaw Lane in Liversedge, was put up for sale. I hear on the grapevine that its owner had demolition in mind. A temporary preservation order was placed on it after I had contacted my local MP, Mike Wood, who contacted English Heritage. It turns out that we cannot get it listed on the building, but of course we are trying to do it on the history. Patrick used it as lodgings when he came as curate to St Peter’s Church, Hartshead in 1811. He wrote his Cottage Poems while staying there, and groups of Luddites passed it.”

But now the story seems to have a happy ending:

Mrs Marsden said: "We have had letters sent in support of our campaign from Bronte Society members and academics from all over the world.

"We are thrilled that we have succeeded."

Mrs Marsden, of Mirfield, and formerly the Bronte Society's heritage conservation spokesman, said she understood Patrick Bronte had brought his wife, Maria, to the house, after their marriage in Guiseley.

It is believed Patrick also witnessed skirmishes involving Luddite rebels and wrote some of his cottage poems', a collection of moral verse, while staying at the farm.

Patrick and his bride moved to a house in Market Street, Thornton, soon after their marriage and this was where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born.

Stan Driver, Kirklees Council's principal planning and conservation officer, said Thornbush Farm had been put forward for listing because of its "literary, architectural and historical" interest.

He said: "We were happy to submit a request for listing after being contacted by the Bronte Society."

Bronte Parsonage Museum director Alan Bentley said: "I think it is important to preserve buildings which are a part of the Bronte heritage.

"Patrick lived there before the Bronte sisters were born but it was an important period in his life as he was involved with Luddite rebels. He told Charlotte about this and similar events appeared in her novel Shirley."

An English Heritage spokesman said representatives had visited the farm and had been impressed by the structure and its literary and historical connections.

Mrs Marsden said she hoped the building would be included in Bronte heritage tours in the near future.

EDIT:

IcHuddersfield also covers the story.

The farm has been given Grade II listed status from English Heritage, working for the Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Listed buildings are judged to have special architectural, historical or cultural significance. They may not be demolished, extended or altered without special permission from the local planning authority.

The campaign for listing Thornbush Farm was led by Mirfield woman Imelda Marsden, who is a social historian and a member of the Bronte Society.

She said: "I can't believe they granted listed status. It's great news.

"It is privately owned and I wanted to get it listed when I heard that it might be sold and demolished, because it is dilapidated.

Categories: Brontëana, Patrick_Brontë, Cottage_Poems

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