Charlotte Bronte’s last miniature book

A tiny work of literature created by Charlotte Bronte — the eldest of the three Bronte sisters, and author of the novel Jane Eyre — was recently won at auction by the Bronte Society at the cost of $777,000. According to the society, more than 1,000 people pledged money to purchase the book and were supported by several celebrities, including actress and president of the Bronte Society Dame Judi Dench, children’s author Dame Jacqueline Wilson and historical novelist Tracy Chevalier.

The manuscript is literally ‘little’, in every sense of the word. Titled The Young Men’s Magazine, it is about the size of a matchbox and consists of approximately 20 pages nested together and neatly stitched with embroidery thread. The contents include three complete short stories written in tiny handwriting and titled ‘A Letter from Charles Wellesley’, ‘The Midnight Song’ and ‘Journal of a Frenchman’. In the style of actual publications of the day, there are also several vivid and dramatic advertisements.

Bronte created six such books as a 14-year-old in 1830. They were intended as props for games that were played with toy soldiers belonging to her brother Branwell, who created three manuscripts of his own.

With this latest acquisition, the Bronte Society — which manages the operations of the Bronte Parsonage Museum, housed in the same home where the Bronte family lived — now owns all five of the surviving miniatures. The sixth is believed to have been missing since 1930.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, November 24th, 2019