After a shipwreck caused much of the Bronte’s possessions to be lost to Poseidon, it is wonderful to know some interesting pieces were saved. Among the pieces rescued from the wreck off the coast of Devon, was a book belonging to the Bronte sister’s beloved mother, Maria, who died in 1821 when the children were very small.
The book was an edition of The Remains of Henry Kirke White, and inside were annotations by Maria, and an inscription written by her husband after her death. The inscription, written by Patrick Bronte in Latin, read:
“The book of my dearest wife and it was saved from the waves.
So then it will always be preserved”
Inside the book were various annotations by the other Bronte children, including letters, poems, and stories. Charlotte had inserted a piece of prose written when she was a young child, and it has been described by Rebecca Yorke of the Bronte Parsonage Museum as “highly unusual”. The poem involves Charlotte’s fantasy world of Angria and the characters within that world crossing the threshold of reality to meet ‘real-life’ people of Haworth.
After being discovered at a private collector’s home in California USA, in 2015, the book was purchased in 2015 for £170,000,. This was thanks to funding from National Heritage Memorial Fund, the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, and the Friends of the National Libraries. It is now taking pride of place at The Bronte Museum in West Yorkshire, its rightful home.
Birmingham Poet, Benjamin Zephaniah dies, aged 65
Top Authors Join Legal Battle Against OpenAI for Mass Copyright Infringement
Literary Icon, Cormac McCarthy has died
The Literary World Mourns Martin Amis
Anne Perry, Murderer turned Crime Writer dies, aged 84
Author Fay Weldon dead at 91
