Mini-manuscript by Brontë sold for $1m
The miniature manuscript by Charlotte Brontë.
A French museum on Thursday paid over $1 million for English writer Charlotte Brontë’s unpublished manuscript at an auction in London.
The manuscript, which contains more than 4,000 words crammed on to 19 pages, each measuring approximately 35 x 61mm, was bought by Paris-based La Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits, where it will be exhibited in January.
The manuscript, by Charlotte Brontë, famous for writing Jane Eyre, sold for more than twice the pre-sale estimate of £200,000-£300,000 as it was auctioned for £690,850, or $ 1,069,229.
Fourteen-year-old Charl-otte wrote the manuscript in miniature magazine format, named The Young Men’s Magazine, Number 2, and set it in Glass Town, a fictional world created by the four Brontë siblings. It is dated August 1830, making it 17 years before she wrote Jane Eyre.
The sale on Thursday set a new record at auction for a manuscript by Charlotte Brontë, and a record at auction for a literary work by any of the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily (famous for writing Wuthering Heights) and Anne (famous for her two novels Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall). The manuscript had never previously been seen by scholars until its appearance at auction.
“Sotheby’s was honoured to sell a manuscript of such rarity and huge literary significance and the record price set today reflects the international interest in Charlotte Brontë’s work. This tiny manuscript represents her first burst of creativity and provides a rare and intimate insight into one of history’s great literary minds,” Dr Philip Errington, Sotheby’s director and senior specialist, books & manuscripts department, said after the auction.
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