Exciting Recent Acquisitions at the Brontë Parsonage Museum: Letters Bought by the Brontë Society on 4 July 2006

Abstract

Our Collections Assistant Linda Procter-Mackley worked very hard to track this item down. We were informed by a prospective buyer that it was for sale and assumed that they had bought it. Linda asked if they would be happy for us to keep their details confidentially on file as we like to keep informed about the ownership of Bronte items. However, the album had been sold to someone else. Linda followed this up and we were able at last to buy the album. This album was begun by Mary Jesup Docwra from Kelvedon in Essex in 1858. It is full of handwriting samples of leaders in politics, the Church, the Temperance movement and the arts – particularly writers. She had clearly written to Patrick Bronte asking for a sample of Charlotte’s handwriting which he supplied by cutting a small piece from a letter. This sample is pasted to Patrick’s own note and is written on mourning paper (the black border is visible through the paper). The note next to Patrick’s is from Charles Dickens. Bob and Louise Barnard have looked at the album to try to identify as many signatures as possible. The album was continued later by a female relative of Mary.