Brontë, Charlotte.

writing with passionate relief at Ellen's return from London "the great city which to me is almost as apocryphal as Babylon or Ninevah, or ancient Rome", congratulating her on not having been corrupted by the metropolis, and protesting at the depth of their friendship ("...I have long seen, 'friend', in your mind, in your words, in your actions..."), 3 pages, 4to, [Haworth], 19 June 1834, integral address panel, postal markings, seal tear largely repaired, second leaf inlaid

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"...I know my own sentiments because I can read my own mind, but the mind of the rest of man and woman-kind, are to me sealed volumes, hieroglyphicked scrolls which I cannot easily either unseal or decipher; yet time, careful study, long acquaintance overcome most difficulties, and in your case, I think they have succeeded well in bringing to light and Construing that hidden language whose turnings, windings, inconsistencies, and obscurities, so frequently baffle the researches of the honest observer of human Nature..."

A remarkable, intense letter by the young Charlotte Bronte to one of her closest friends. The two young women had met in 1831 when both were students at Margaret Wooler's school near Dewsbury (some 15 miles from Haworth). By the time of this letter she was 18 and back living at the parsonage with her siblings, the four of them together deeply immersed in writing about their imaginary kingdoms of Gondal and Angria. Her letters to Ellen through the early months of 1834 show the deep impression made on her by her friend's first trip to London. This letter reveals the extraordinary contrast between Bronte's wide-ranging and free imagination - her talk of "hieroglyphicked scrolls" and observations of human nature - and the constraints of her domestic life, which made London an almost-unimaginably distant place of fascination and sin.

A partially unpublished letter. Although included in ed. Smith, Letters of Charlotte Bronte Vol I, 1829-1847 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), where it is cited as an untraced manuscript, the published text has elisions and includes a number of textual anomalies which the original manuscript can correct.