In Short Order Charlotte Brontë's Last Privately Held “Little Book” Sold for $1.25 Million
- by Michael Stillman
Charlotte Brontë's Book of “Ryhmes.”
Charlotte Brontë and her sisters have been in the news a lot lately. It's nice to be remembered as they all died over a century and a half ago. It's also interesting to note that the stories have been associated with large sums of money. They are valued both in literary and financial circles today.
Last year, the long disappeared Honresfield Library, missing from public view for 80 years, reappeared when Sotheby's announced they would be selling it at auction. It had been formed by brothers William and Alfred Law in the late 19th century. It contained many things, but the concentration was in Brontë material. The English brothers lived only 20 miles from where the Brontës grew up.
The childless brothers left the library to their nephew, also Alfred Law, but after he too died childless in 1939, its whereabouts was lost to all but a select few, most likely inheriting relatives. It was a mystery until resurfacing in 2021, but where it was remains unknown to those outside of Sotheby's.
After Sotheby's announcement of the planned sale, the Friends of the National Libraries asked to intervene. The Friends' mission is to preserve British heritage, its books and manuscripts in particular. They requested a postponement of the sale so they could have a chance to raise the funds for an outright sale. Sotheby's agreed, with the price set at £15 million (approximately U.S. $20 million). The Friends were successful and the purchase completed late last year. The items were passed around to several institutions including the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
The piece de resistance in the Honresfield collection (along with a manuscript book of poems by Emily) was seven of Charlotte's “little books.” She wrote these in her pre-teen and early teenage years. The sisters would all become famous about two decades later with their first published novels. Sadly, all three died within a few years later. Charlotte's “little books” were handwritten miniature books she wrote to be shared with her sisters, not the outside world.
That left only one of Charlotte's two dozen “little books” still in private hands, but that one had been missing for over a century. It was last seen in a sale at Walpole Galleries, a New York auction house that has been out of business since 1931. That sale took place in 1916 and the book sold for $520. That was a lot of money in 1916.
Then, suddenly, it reappeared. Booksellers James Cummins of New York and Maggs Bros. of London had it. Where they got it we don't know. Owners tend to be secretive. They announced they would be bringing it to the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair last month. It did not take them long to find a buyer. It was the same buyer that bought the Honresfield Library on behalf of the British people. They bought it for $1.25 million, having raised the funds in just two weeks. They have given it to the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
This “little book” is titled Book of Ryhmes (Charlotte's spelling, not mine). They pertain to the sisters' imaginary world, “Glass Town.” Charlotte modestly explained, “The following are attempts at rhyming of an inferior nature it must be acknowledged but they are nevertheless my best.” As the sisters' book of poems, which barely sold any copies until after they became successful novelists, can attest, poetry was not her forté. Fortunately, she turned to prose instead.
Ann Dinsdale, Principal Curator at the Brontë Parsonage Museum said, “We are absolutely thrilled to be the recipients of this extraordinary and unexpected donation and wish to thank the generosity of the Friends of the National Libraries and all of the donors who have made it possible.
“It is always emotional when an item belonging to the Brontë family is returned home and this final little book coming back to the place it was written when it had been thought lost is very special for us.”
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800