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Observer
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Observer
At 13, Charlotte Brontë Already Knew How Good a Writer She Would Be
Few teenagers would want the world to read their poems, but at 13, Charlotte Brontë was an exception. In 1829, she collected her verse in a humble anthology that hinted at her ambition to become an author at a time when few women wrote for a public audience. The poems in Brontë's 'Book of Rhymes' were handwritten in tiny script on scraps of paper, no larger than playing cards, and stitched together with a meticulously crafted contents page. The author of 'Jane Eyre' likely never intended to publish this juvenile work, inscribing on the cover 'Sold By Nobody and Printed By Herself.' Years later, the anthology will be available to the public for the first time. To celebrate the 209th anniversary of her birth, the Brontë Parsonage Museum in England has published a collection of 10 poems alongside images of the original ink-smudged pages. The anthology features a long poem on the beauty of nature, an epic attempt, and a piece intriguingly titled 'A Thing of Fourteen Lines — Commonly Called a [Sonnet?]'. Brontë's manuscript reveals her editing process, illustrating her as an aspiring author already grappling with character and perspective. Ann Dinsdale, the museum's principal curator, notes, 'They chart her development as a writer.' The original manuscript, lost for over a century, will also be exhibited at the museum in Haworth, northern England. The existence of these poems came to light through Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Brontë, published in 1857. Gaskell mentioned a catalog of 22 works created by Brontë, starting at age 10. 'A Book of Rhymes' and similar juvenile pieces became treasured collectibles. Records indicate the anthology was auctioned in New York in 1916 but later vanished. It resurfaced in 2022 as the highlight of the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair. Sold by an anonymous private collector, the anthology fetched $1.25 million during an auction held on the 206th anniversary of Brontë's birth. Friends of the National Libraries, a British nonprofit, raised the funds through donations from nine contributors, including the Garfield Weston Foundation and the estate of T.S. Eliot, to prevent it from disappearing into private hands again. The anthology was then donated to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, where the Brontë family lived and wrote in the 19th century. From their home in Haworth, Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and their brother Branwell produced tiny magazines filled with elaborate worlds. Their imagined readers were toy soldiers, and they crafted stories on scraps of paper, hiding their creations from adult scrutiny. Dinsdale notes they wrote to scale for the toy soldiers, using small text to keep their adventures private. In 'A Book Of Rhymes,' Brontë adopted the voices of two toy soldiers—Marquis of Duro and Lord Charles Wellesley—as they embarked on an expedition through a Canadian forest or an exiled journey through biblical Babylon. The young Brontës' works reflected their reading influences, and their father, Patrick Brontë, a priest and bird watcher, encouraged their explorations of nature during long walks over the moors. This connection with the landscape became a hallmark of Charlotte's writings. Long before her characters traversed the landscapes of her novels, the teenage Brontë captured nature in poems like 'Autumn, a Song' and 'Spring, a Song.' In 'A Bit of a Rhyme,' she describes, 'Meantime the rushing stream which roars along / its black waves foaming in high majesty.' Despite acknowledging the imperfections in her writing, Brontë introduced her anthology by stating, 'The following are attempts at rhyming of an inferior nature, it must be acknowledged, but they are nevertheless my best.' The Brontë Parsonage Museum collaborated with a local publisher to have musician and poet Patti Smith write the foreword. She reflects on how Brontë's writing transported her to her own childhood and emphasizes that the poems embody a determined ambition. 'It is not simply a handful of juvenile verses,' Smith writes, 'but the manifestation of an ambitious dreamer.' —NYT
New York Times
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
At 13, Charlotte Brontë Already Knew How Good a Writer She Would Be
Few teenagers would want the world to read their poems. At 13, Charlotte Brontë collected her verse in a humble anthology that already hinted at her ambition to become an author at a time when few women wrote for a public audience. Written in the winter of 1829, the poems in Brontë's 'Book of Rhymes' were written in tiny script to fit on scraps of paper no larger than playing cards that were hand-stitched together with a carefully written contents page. The writer of 'Jane Eyre' probably didn't intend to publish her juvenile poetry, writing in the inner cover 'Sold By Nobody and Printed By Herself.' Now, about 200 years later, the anthology will be available to the public for the first time. This week, in time to celebrate the 209th anniversary of her birth, the Brontë Parsonage Museum in England published the collection of 10 poems, transcribed alongside images of their original ink-smudged pages. The anthology contains a long-form poem on the beauty of the natural world, an attempt at an epic, and a verse called 'A Thing of Fourteen Lines — Commonly Called a [Sonnet?]' The anthology shows Brontë's deletions and rearranged stanzas, showing lines crossed out and rewritten. In preserving her ink-stained edits, the little manuscript also shows an aspiring author already grappling with character and perspective. 'They chart her development as a writer,' said Ann Dinsdale, the Brontë Parsonage Museum's principal curator. The original manuscript, which was lost for at least a century, will also go on display at the museum, in Haworth, in northern England. The existence of the poems was known thanks to a biography of Brontë, written by the Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and published in 1857. Gaskell wrote of a catalog of early poems and stories by Brontë, first written at age 10 and numbering 22 titles by the time she was 14. These juvenile works, including 'A Book of Rhymes,' were later treasured by collectors. Records show that 'A Book of Rhymes' came up for auction in New York in 1916 — but then it vanished. It reappeared in 2022, where it was the headline item at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair. Sold by an anonymous private collector, the anthology fetched $1.25 million at an auction that year, held on the 206th anniversary of Brontë's birth. Friends of the National Libraries, a British nonprofit, raised that amount with donations from nine donors, including the Garfield Weston Foundation and the estate of T.S. Eliot, to stop the book from again disappearing into another private collection. It was then donated to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which is based in the parsonage where the Brontë family lived and wrote in the 19th century. From their home in Haworth, the Brontë siblings — Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their brother Branwell — produced tiny magazines that contained elaborate worlds: Their imagined readers were a set of toy soldiers that they played with, making up adventures. The children gathered any scrap of paper they could find, writing on sugar bags and bounding their books in scraps of wallpaper, Dinsdale, the museum curator, said. They wrote to scale for the toy soldiers, but by making the text so small, they also kept the prying eyes of adults from looking into their little world. Brontë wrote 'A Book Of Rhymes' in the voice of two of the toy soldiers, the Marquis of Duro and Lord Charles Wellesley, and imagined them setting off on an expedition through a Canadian forest where 'branches mingle over head / casting a solemn shade / oe'r the lone pathway which I tread' or on an exiled journey through the biblical Babylon. The young Brontës' early work reflects what they were reading at the time, Dinsdale said. She added that they were encouraged by their father, Patrick Brontë, a priest who also studied bird life, who would take the children on long walks over the moors around their home. He encouraged Charlotte to observe the natural landscape, which became a signature of her writing, Dinsdale said. Long before her characters would muddy their skirts in the bucolic landscapes of her novels, teenage Charlotte Brontë captured the natural environment in her poems 'Autumn, a Song' and 'Spring, a Song.' 'Meantime the rushing stream which roars along / its black waves foaming in high majesty' she writes in a poem called 'A Bit of a Rhyme.' The verse is imperfect, but an already reflective Brontë knew this, writing in the introduction: 'The following are attempts at rhyming of an inferior nature, it must be acknowledged, but they are nevertheless my best.' The Brontë Parsonage Museum partnered with a local publisher and asked the musician, author and poet Patti Smith to write the foreword. In it, she writes that Brontë's teenage writing transported her back to her own childhood, when imagination offered her an escape from reality. The poems show a cleareyed writer determined to wield invention 'as a benevolent weapon,' Smith writes. 'It is not simply a handful of juvenile verses,' she adds, 'but the manifestation of an ambitious dreamer.'
MTV Lebanon
21-02-2025
- Politics
- MTV Lebanon
Minister of Culture, Spanish Ambassador discuss strengthening cultural cooperation
The Minister of Culture Ghassan Salameh received the Spanish Ambassador to Lebanon, Jesús Santos Aguado, in his office at the National Library in Sanayeh on a protocolary visit, during which the ambassador congratulated him on assuming office. The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss bilateral relations, particularly in the cultural sector, and the importance of strengthening cultural cooperation between Spain and Lebanon at various levels. Their discussions focused on organizing cultural events, signing a memorandum of understanding, and enhancing collaboration between the National Libraries of both countries through expertise exchange and joint initiatives.
