The lost library of the Brontë is up for auction

The lost library of the Brontë sisters emerges from oblivion and the estimate for manuscripts and volumes offered by Sotheby's is in the millions of dollars. In the meantime, the treasure trove of papers is going around the world in view of the London auction in July and from 5 to 9 June the New York bibliophiles will be able to admire in the Sotheby's office in York Avenue, very precious pieces including a manuscript of 31 poems by Emily with annotations in pencil by sister Charlotte: Eve estimate between 1.3 and 1.8 million dollars. The Brontë papers, which will be released online from 2 to 13 July, are part of the Honresfield Library, the private collection of William and Alfred Law, two Victorian-era British industrialists who disappeared from the public eye in the late 1930s. It includes over 500 manuscripts,letters and very rare first editions of canonical authors of British literature, from Walter Scott to Robert Burns and, besides the Brontë, Jane Austen.

The Brontë's autographed materials are exceptionally rare and very little has appeared at auction before: in 2011 a mini-book created by the then 14-year-old Charlotte sparked a battle between collectors that pushed the final price up to over a million dollars. . This time Sotheby's also offers the best copy of Emily's masterpiece, "Wuthering Heights" ever to appear on the market in a decade: it is a first edition with the original fabric cover dedicated by the Reverend Patrick Brontë, the sisters' father, to the housekeeper of the family, Martha Brown. Other treasures include the annotated family copy of Thomas Bewick's "History of the British Birds", the book Charlotte talks about at the beginning of "Jane Eyre".

Brontë relics are extremely rare. At the auction at Sotheby's will also be pages of diary that Emily and Anne wrote for each other's birthdays. Only two letters from Emily have survived, which makes the collection of 31 poems dated February 1844 even more valuable, which not only retains her writing but played a key role in the sisters' literary career: Emily had written the verses in secret without intended to publish them, but in 1845 Charlotte found them by chance and convinced her sister to include them in a self-financed volume of poems for which the three Brontë used male pseudonyms.