Bronte and Austen treasures saved by national libraries charity
The collection includes seven of Charlotte Bronte's "little books", a collection of poems by Anne, and Emily's notebook of 31 poems
- Published
A collection of British literary treasures has been saved from sale abroad by a national libraries charity.
Rare handwritten poems by Emily Brontë, works by Robert Burns and Jane Austen first editions are included in the collection.
Friends of National Libraries (FNL) have raised over £15m to acquire the Honresfield Library, which houses the works, and say they intend to keep it in the public domain.
The library has been largely inaccessible for the last 80 years.
It was curated towards the end of the 19th century by Rochdale mill owner William Law.
The collection includes poems and letters put together by Robert Burns when he was an unknown 24-year-old
He gathered manuscripts and printed books written by literary giants from England and Scotland.
Auction house Sotheby's announced the sale of the library, in three tranches, in May 2021.
Emily Bronte's poems had been expected to fetch between £800,000 and £1.2m, and a first edition of her novel Wuthering Heights between £200,000 and £300,000.
However, FNL successfully petitioned the agents to postpone the sale.
The delay allowed the charity to raise sufficient funds to purchase the entire collection outright on behalf of libraries in the UK.
Emily Brontë's rare handwritten poems are in the collection
Following the purchase, FNL said the collection will remain permanently in the public domain and never be lost to overseas institutions or to private collections that are inaccessible to the British public.
The collection includes multiple works by Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte, including short stories, poems and manuscripts, which have remained unseen for 80 years and never properly examined.
Works by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Austen also feature, including two letters from the latter to her sister Cassandra - one of which discusses the reception of both Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.
A compendium of poems, notes, personal letters and ideas put together by Burns when he was an unknown 24-year-old are also part of the collection.
The charity said all of the manuscripts and printed books will be distributed to relevant institutions across the UK to ensure that as many people as possible can enjoy the literary "treasure trove."
Janes Austen's letters are also part of the collection
The Prince of Wales, who is a patron of FNL, described the acquisition as "tremendous news for our country".
He said: "I can only congratulate the chairman, Geordie Greig, and his team for saving the Blavatnik Honresfield Library for the nation, with its treasures now to be owned by some of our greatest national libraries across the UK.
"Our literary heritage is our cultural DNA and this preserves it for students, teachers, academics and ordinary readers in perpetuity."
Items in the Honresfield Library include:
Jane Austen first editions including Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice
A copy of Don Quixote printed in 1620 for Shakespeare publisher Edward Blounte
An annotated copy of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poems showing his changes
The complete manuscript for Sir Walter Scott's 19th century novel Rob Roy
Little-seen letters to and from the likes of novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, Hartley Coleridge (son of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge) and George Smith - original publisher and champion of the Brontes
Works from Homer, Ovid, the Grimm Brothers, Montaigne, Ann Radcliffe, Horace Walpole, Charles Dickens and Mary Wollstonecraft
Bewick's History of British Birds was made famous in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
Greig, who is also a former editor of the Daily Mail, said: "The generosity of all the donors has been incredible in saving this unique library.
"There has been unprecedented public interest in this collection of manuscripts and books hidden for almost a century.
"Rescuing it has seemed a little like opening an Egyptian tomb to see for the first time ancient texts and treasures which are now saved in perpetuity for students, scholars and book-lovers."
When the sale of the Honresfield Library was first announced, the Bronte Society said the "rightful home" for the "unique and extraordinary" manuscripts was the museum in the sisters' former home in Haworth, West Yorkshire.