Lot 46: BRONTË, CHARLOTTE.

PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
SECOND SERIES OF THE YOUNG MENS MAGAZINES. NO SECOND. FOR SEPTEMBER 1830 EDITED BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË. SOLD BY SERGEANT TREE AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS IN THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE CHIEF GLASS TOWN PARIS ROSS GT PARRYS GT WELLINGTONS GLASS TOWN &C; &C; &C; ... FINISHED AUGUST 19 1830
unpublished miniature autograph manuscript written in minuscule script, comprising title page (p.1), half-title and contents (p.2), "A letter from Lord Charles Wellesley" (pp.3-10), "The Midnight Song" (pp.11-14), "Journal of a Frenchman [continued]" (pp.14-18), "Advertisements" ("...Six young men wish to let themselves all a hire for the purpose of cleaning out pockets they are in reduced CIRCUMSTANCES...") (p.19), blank except for "Em R" in a different hand (p.20), the manuscript being composed of five bifolia, each produced individually and varying in size by up to 3mm, folded into a single gathering and stab-stitched in brown paper wrappers with "SEPTEMBER 1830" inscribed on the upper cover, 20 pages, 35 x 61mm, in a red folder and brown morocco slip-off case (50 x 70mm) with gilt lettering on the spine ("Young Men's Magazine | C. Brontë | Sept. 1830"), in exceptional condition but with tiny nick to second leaf, without paper loss

Alexander, C. A Bibliography of the Manuscripts of Charlotte Brontë. Keighley, 1982
The Early Writings of Charlotte Brontë 1826-1832, ed. C. Alexander. Oxford, 1987
Dalsimer, K. 'The Young Charlotte Brontë', The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Volume 3, 2010, 317-339
Gerin, W. Charlotte Brontë: the Evolution of Genius. Oxford, 1967

On Charlotte Brontë's death in 1855 her surviving manuscripts passed to her widower, the Rev. Arthur Nicholls, who moved to Ireland in 1861. In 1895 Nicholls was approached by Clement Shorter, acting on behalf of the bibliographer, collector, and forger T.J. Wise, who purchased the bulk of the manuscripts for £400. No complete list of these manuscripts is known but since this manuscript was not included among the residue of Nicholls's collection (sold in these rooms 26 July 1907, 19 June 1914, and 15 December 1916) it can be assumed that it was among Wise's purchases. Folders and slip-off cases similar to that protecting this manuscript are also found with some of the manuscripts from Wise's collection. Wise sold many of the individual manuscripts to a range of collectors, and this manuscript has remained in private ownership in Continental Europe until the present time.