The last auction took place in 1916, in New York: since then, the tiny work was carefully kept by a private and discreet collector. Sewn by hand, in an original cover made with brown paper, these 15 pages tell a “imaginary and sophisticated world“, note the booksellers. Charlotte evokes her brothers and sisters, in very rich stories. “They wrote adventures, dramas, verses, in this tiny book, with equally tiny handwriting, but all intended to create the illusion of a printed work“, notes the auction house.
James Cummins and Maggs Bros are the bookstores that will be offering the document at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair on April 21. “As the manuscript was made public in 1916, we all savor the tale of this unexpected survival.“says Henry Wessells, partner at James Cummins Bookseller.
Cost of the transaction, at the time: $520…
Not terrible, but it’s mine!
« nice little thing», this manuscript will have been the subject of all the attention in its production. “What follows are attempts at rhyme of a poor nature, it must be admitted, but they are none the less my bestwrites Charlotte by way of introduction.
READ: The Brontë sisters’ library resurfaces
«Imagine for a moment the Brontë children telling stories, and writing them among themselves: they are home-schooled, in a remote village and escape, briefly, by writing books that have been read by millions of people since. And now they leave things made with their hands, like this manuscript“Wessells gets carried away.
In the testimonies of the family, we also find the existence of these small texts, originally imagined to entertain… the little toy soldiers. But they already attest to all the creativity that we will discover in the novels to come.
Born in 1816, the novelist and poetess Charlotte Brontë is one of three English sisters — Emily and Anne — who quite simply upset the British literary pantheon… Like many women, in their time, they published their first texts under pseudonyms, but Charlotte revealed their identity, following the death of her sisters.
In 2011, another copy of these Lilliputian manuscripts sold, once more at auction, for $1.07 million. The sale took place at Sotheby’s (photo credit).
At the end of 2018, the Brontë Society had acquired another small book written by Charlotte, when she was 14 years old. “The fact that this unique manuscript is back in Haworth is a milestone in my 30 years at the museum.said Ann Dinsdale, the museum’s chief curator.
« Charlotte wrote this tiny manuscript for the toy soldiers that she, her sisters and her brother had invented. As we find ourselves in the very room in which they played, it seems particularly appropriate that the manuscript is back in this place and we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all those who made its acquisition possible. »
