- 58
[Bronte, Charlotte] important collection of papers of the bronte scholar j. horsfall turner
bidding is closed
Description
[Bronte, Charlotte] important collection of papers of the bronte scholar j. horsfall turner
relating to his researches on the Brontes and correspondence with surviving members of their circle and other Bronte scholars, comprising:
i) two contemporary photographs of Mr White's house, Upperwood, Rawdon, where Charlotte Bronte worked as a governess in 1841 (see previous lot), sepia prints mounted on card, images each c.160 x 205mm., mounts each c.225 x 270mm., light soiling
ii) autograph letter signed by ellen nussey, to J. Horsfall Turner, about a "passage" which she had forgotten about, "lovely Portraits of Adelaide Neilson"' a "little work" given to her which she sends him for publication in his Quarterly, and her involvement in the "Primrose League"
2 pages, 8vo, Fieldhead-Birstell, 6 April 1886, partly laid-down on card
Ellen Nussey (1817-97) was Charlotte Bronte's closest friend and confidante (see previous lot).
iii) autograph letter signed by william gaskell, to ellen nussey, about his wife elizabeth's "life" of charlotte bronte, which, he says, Ellen must have thought was never coming, but which is announced for the following day ("...and I hope you will receive your copy close on the heels of this...")
...After Mrs . Gaskell left, Mr . Smith grew nervous about the references to Newby's dealings, and one or two other matters, and begged me to rewrite a few bits here and there...the delay, I believe, has been occasioned by the Engravings...
he comments further on the engravings, especially that of Haworth, and passes on much news of his wife as received from letters by her, reporting on the family's experiences in Marseilles and Rome, where they saw a carnival and many other sights, meeting Mrs Stowe and also "Dr . Manning, Aubrey de Vere, and some other perverts"
4 pages, 8vo, Plymouth Grove, 24 March 1857, partly laid-down on card
iv) six other autograph letters to ellen nussey, signed by various correspondents, including Marianne Gaskell (eldest daughter of Elizabeth Gaskell), expressing great pleasure at getting to know her and giving news of family and visits, 1857; J. Wemyss Reid (3), discussing his book, the various favourable reactions to it, and her "little sketch of Anne B[ronte]'s death"; he also tries to answer at some length a potentially "embarrassing" question she has asked him relating to Mr Wilkes, expressing his view that "all that now remains unpublished either by Mrs Gaskell or myself, is either too common-place to be published at all, or else too private...to admit of being published at present"; John Ingelow, about publishing her Bronte letters; A. Wilkes, about spending a week with her at Haworth and revising his book, discussing at length the "thousand questions" he has to ask her
...I am extremely anxious to know what in Charlottes books are facts, and what are the pure product of her imagination. You told me, for example, that Shirley's offered gift to Mr Donne was a fact in Emily Bronte's life...
and J. Horsfall Turner, inscribing a three-page manuscript copy of an 1840 Valentine poem to a clergyman [William Weightman] attributed to Charlotte Bronte (beginning "A Roland for your Oliver") asking her if this ("just received from Abraham Holroyd") is genuine, c.30 pages, chiefly 8vo, 1857-1887
together with a four-page letter, illustrated with colour vignettes, by William Scruton, to his "dear friend"' about his visit to Miss Nussey ("really a nice old lady and well up in current topics") and about her dismissal of Mrs Holloway's book and of a fabricated letter from Charlotte to Emily Bronte, 11 August 1883, occasional light soiling, partly laid-down on cards
v) two autograph letters signed by mary taylor:
the first to mrs gaskell, about her "Life" of Charlotte Bronte, thanking her for the receipt of the volumes ("the first copy I believe that arrived [in] N. Zealand") and commenting at length on them, as also on the frontispiece portrait of Charlotte (which she disputes)
...The book is a perfect success, in giving a true picture of her melancholy life...it is perhaps as much so as people will accept without calling it exaggerated & feeling the desire to doubt & contradict it...Neither of [the reviews] seem to think it a strange or wrong state of things that a woman of first rate talents industry & integrity should live all her life in a waking nightmare of "poverty & self suppression"...
4 pages, 8vo, Wellington, 30 July 1857, light soiling, partly laid-down on card, tear at foot of one leaf
the second to ellen nussey, sending new year greetings, commenting on domestic and business matters, on her staying in New Zealand, and on various of their old schoolfellows, and also on Mrs Gaskell's book
...She seems a hasty impulsive person, & the needful drawing back after her warmth gives her an inconsistent look. Yet I doubt not her book will be of great use. You must be aware that many strange notions as to the kind of person Charlotte was will be done away with by a knowledge of the true facts of her life...As to the mutilated edition that is to come I am sorry for it. Libellous or not the first edition was all true...
4 pages, 4to, 28 January 1858, on blue paper, some white spotting, partly laid-down
Mary Taylor, and her sister Martha, of Gomersal, were among Charlotte Bronte's oldest friends. They were depicted as Rose and Jessie Yorke in Shirley. The independently-minded Mary would become a teacher, a businesswoman in New Zealand, a pioneer in women's rights, a female mountaineer, and a writer and novelist in her own right.
vi) some forty autograph letters to j. horsfall turner, about bronte matters, signed by: a.b. nicholls (widower of Charlotte Bronte: 2, about his medallion of Branwell Bronte, a "crayon portrait of his sister"' and Turner's Haworth Past and Present: "...The portrait you referred to is not very flattering; but what does it matter? I shall make enquiry about a photographer..."' 1894); M.A. Nicholls (4, selling Bronte relics, including "the large Medallion for six guineas" and "The little portrait of Anne" for £3 3s, 1907); a.c. swinburne (declining the honour of being Vice-President of the Bronte Society, 22 January 1894); M.E. ('Meta') Gaskell (second daughter of Elizabeth Gaskell: about lending photographs of her mother to the Bronte Museum and her relics of the Brontes); Charlotte Branwell (about her family relics); W. Deardon (about his acquaintance with Branwell Bronte, 1885); C. Bronte Morgan; Lord Houghton; Lord Rosebery; Laura C. Holloway; Francis A. Leyland (about his work on the Brontes); and many others discussing research on the Brontes and their relics; with four other letters, one by Joseph Jowett (with a detailed discussion of a forthcoming book, 1838)
upwards of 100 pages in all, chiefly 8vo, 1885-1914, occasional light spotting or soiling, the majority partly laid-down on cards
Joseph Horsfall Turner (1845-1915) was a highly active antiquary, musician, educationalist and politician. He was a prolific author who published Haworth Past and Present (1879) and an edition of the Collected Works and Life of the Rev. Patrick Bronte (Bingley, 1898), as well as many other books and articles relating to Yorkshire historical and topographical subjects. In 1893 he was one of the founders and first honorary secretary of the Bronte Society, which still flourishes today with a world-wide membership of over 3000 (see Charles Lemon, A Centenary History of the Bronte Society 1893-1993, 1993). the present collection of turner's papers throws considerable light on the bronte studies of his day.
relating to his researches on the Brontes and correspondence with surviving members of their circle and other Bronte scholars, comprising:
i) two contemporary photographs of Mr White's house, Upperwood, Rawdon, where Charlotte Bronte worked as a governess in 1841 (see previous lot), sepia prints mounted on card, images each c.160 x 205mm., mounts each c.225 x 270mm., light soiling
ii) autograph letter signed by ellen nussey, to J. Horsfall Turner, about a "passage" which she had forgotten about, "lovely Portraits of Adelaide Neilson"' a "little work" given to her which she sends him for publication in his Quarterly, and her involvement in the "Primrose League"
2 pages, 8vo, Fieldhead-Birstell, 6 April 1886, partly laid-down on card
Ellen Nussey (1817-97) was Charlotte Bronte's closest friend and confidante (see previous lot).
iii) autograph letter signed by william gaskell, to ellen nussey, about his wife elizabeth's "life" of charlotte bronte, which, he says, Ellen must have thought was never coming, but which is announced for the following day ("...and I hope you will receive your copy close on the heels of this...")
...After Mrs . Gaskell left, Mr . Smith grew nervous about the references to Newby's dealings, and one or two other matters, and begged me to rewrite a few bits here and there...the delay, I believe, has been occasioned by the Engravings...
he comments further on the engravings, especially that of Haworth, and passes on much news of his wife as received from letters by her, reporting on the family's experiences in Marseilles and Rome, where they saw a carnival and many other sights, meeting Mrs Stowe and also "Dr . Manning, Aubrey de Vere, and some other perverts"
4 pages, 8vo, Plymouth Grove, 24 March 1857, partly laid-down on card
iv) six other autograph letters to ellen nussey, signed by various correspondents, including Marianne Gaskell (eldest daughter of Elizabeth Gaskell), expressing great pleasure at getting to know her and giving news of family and visits, 1857; J. Wemyss Reid (3), discussing his book, the various favourable reactions to it, and her "little sketch of Anne B[ronte]'s death"; he also tries to answer at some length a potentially "embarrassing" question she has asked him relating to Mr Wilkes, expressing his view that "all that now remains unpublished either by Mrs Gaskell or myself, is either too common-place to be published at all, or else too private...to admit of being published at present"; John Ingelow, about publishing her Bronte letters; A. Wilkes, about spending a week with her at Haworth and revising his book, discussing at length the "thousand questions" he has to ask her
...I am extremely anxious to know what in Charlottes books are facts, and what are the pure product of her imagination. You told me, for example, that Shirley's offered gift to Mr Donne was a fact in Emily Bronte's life...
and J. Horsfall Turner, inscribing a three-page manuscript copy of an 1840 Valentine poem to a clergyman [William Weightman] attributed to Charlotte Bronte (beginning "A Roland for your Oliver") asking her if this ("just received from Abraham Holroyd") is genuine, c.30 pages, chiefly 8vo, 1857-1887
together with a four-page letter, illustrated with colour vignettes, by William Scruton, to his "dear friend"' about his visit to Miss Nussey ("really a nice old lady and well up in current topics") and about her dismissal of Mrs Holloway's book and of a fabricated letter from Charlotte to Emily Bronte, 11 August 1883, occasional light soiling, partly laid-down on cards
v) two autograph letters signed by mary taylor:
the first to mrs gaskell, about her "Life" of Charlotte Bronte, thanking her for the receipt of the volumes ("the first copy I believe that arrived [in] N. Zealand") and commenting at length on them, as also on the frontispiece portrait of Charlotte (which she disputes)
...The book is a perfect success, in giving a true picture of her melancholy life...it is perhaps as much so as people will accept without calling it exaggerated & feeling the desire to doubt & contradict it...Neither of [the reviews] seem to think it a strange or wrong state of things that a woman of first rate talents industry & integrity should live all her life in a waking nightmare of "poverty & self suppression"...
4 pages, 8vo, Wellington, 30 July 1857, light soiling, partly laid-down on card, tear at foot of one leaf
the second to ellen nussey, sending new year greetings, commenting on domestic and business matters, on her staying in New Zealand, and on various of their old schoolfellows, and also on Mrs Gaskell's book
...She seems a hasty impulsive person, & the needful drawing back after her warmth gives her an inconsistent look. Yet I doubt not her book will be of great use. You must be aware that many strange notions as to the kind of person Charlotte was will be done away with by a knowledge of the true facts of her life...As to the mutilated edition that is to come I am sorry for it. Libellous or not the first edition was all true...
4 pages, 4to, 28 January 1858, on blue paper, some white spotting, partly laid-down
Mary Taylor, and her sister Martha, of Gomersal, were among Charlotte Bronte's oldest friends. They were depicted as Rose and Jessie Yorke in Shirley. The independently-minded Mary would become a teacher, a businesswoman in New Zealand, a pioneer in women's rights, a female mountaineer, and a writer and novelist in her own right.
vi) some forty autograph letters to j. horsfall turner, about bronte matters, signed by: a.b. nicholls (widower of Charlotte Bronte: 2, about his medallion of Branwell Bronte, a "crayon portrait of his sister"' and Turner's Haworth Past and Present: "...The portrait you referred to is not very flattering; but what does it matter? I shall make enquiry about a photographer..."' 1894); M.A. Nicholls (4, selling Bronte relics, including "the large Medallion for six guineas" and "The little portrait of Anne" for £3 3s, 1907); a.c. swinburne (declining the honour of being Vice-President of the Bronte Society, 22 January 1894); M.E. ('Meta') Gaskell (second daughter of Elizabeth Gaskell: about lending photographs of her mother to the Bronte Museum and her relics of the Brontes); Charlotte Branwell (about her family relics); W. Deardon (about his acquaintance with Branwell Bronte, 1885); C. Bronte Morgan; Lord Houghton; Lord Rosebery; Laura C. Holloway; Francis A. Leyland (about his work on the Brontes); and many others discussing research on the Brontes and their relics; with four other letters, one by Joseph Jowett (with a detailed discussion of a forthcoming book, 1838)
upwards of 100 pages in all, chiefly 8vo, 1885-1914, occasional light spotting or soiling, the majority partly laid-down on cards
Joseph Horsfall Turner (1845-1915) was a highly active antiquary, musician, educationalist and politician. He was a prolific author who published Haworth Past and Present (1879) and an edition of the Collected Works and Life of the Rev. Patrick Bronte (Bingley, 1898), as well as many other books and articles relating to Yorkshire historical and topographical subjects. In 1893 he was one of the founders and first honorary secretary of the Bronte Society, which still flourishes today with a world-wide membership of over 3000 (see Charles Lemon, A Centenary History of the Bronte Society 1893-1993, 1993). the present collection of turner's papers throws considerable light on the bronte studies of his day.