Honresfield Collection: Lost library of Brontë treasures opens in Yorkshire having been hidden for 80 years

Even as lost treasure troves go, this one is simply astonishing. A secret library, unseen for 80 years, sharing the most marvellous bounty of Brontë riches for the first time in history.
Ruby Kitchen
By Ruby Kitchen
Published 30th Jun 2023, 06:00 GMT

There are personal notebooks and rare first editions of the literary sisters' most famous works, held onto by the family's faithful servant, with a pencil sketch by a 10-year-old Emily.

Then tiny books, handcrafted by Charlotte as a little girl, measuring as small as a postage stamp or bound in Epsom Salts wrappers still stamped from their Keighley chemist.

Today Becoming the Brontës opens in Leeds, sharing intensely private pieces and notes, long thought lost, only saved for the nation after powerful appeals.

Sarah Prescott, Literary Archivist in Special Collections at the University of Leeds and curator of the Bronte Exhibition photographed for the Yorkshire Post by Tony Johnson, looking at miniature books, handwritten and crafted by Charlotte Bronte during childhood and adolescence, including two that are bound in packaging originally used for Epsom salts exhibited at ‘Becoming the Brontës’ (co-curated by the British Library, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library). 29th June 2023Sarah Prescott, Literary Archivist in Special Collections at the University of Leeds and curator of the Bronte Exhibition photographed for the Yorkshire Post by Tony Johnson, looking at miniature books, handwritten and crafted by Charlotte Bronte during childhood and adolescence, including two that are bound in packaging originally used for Epsom salts exhibited at ‘Becoming the Brontës’ (co-curated by the British Library, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library). 29th June 2023
Sarah Prescott, Literary Archivist in Special Collections at the University of Leeds and curator of the Bronte Exhibition photographed for the Yorkshire Post by Tony Johnson, looking at miniature books, handwritten and crafted by Charlotte Bronte during childhood and adolescence, including two that are bound in packaging originally used for Epsom salts exhibited at ‘Becoming the Brontës’ (co-curated by the British Library, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library). 29th June 2023

And they won't ever be seen together again - not in this lifetime - with the tiny books and handwritten letters just too fragile and precious to move anew, even across Yorkshire.

To Sarah Prescott, literary archivist at the University of Leeds, this is "incredible".

"These objects, especially the little books, are vanishingly rare," she said. "It's just magic - to interact with something so fragile but so important as well.

"These women, who had such constrained lives, had such an impact on the world. To see these items, which were so intensely personal, throws you into their story."

On display at the ‘Becoming the Brontës’ (co-curated by the British Library, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library) , handwritten and crafted notebooks by Charlotte Bronte during her childhood and adolescence, that are bound in packaging originally used for Epsom salts, photographed for the Yorkshire Post by Tony Johnson. 29th June 2023On display at the ‘Becoming the Brontës’ (co-curated by the British Library, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library) , handwritten and crafted notebooks by Charlotte Bronte during her childhood and adolescence, that are bound in packaging originally used for Epsom salts, photographed for the Yorkshire Post by Tony Johnson. 29th June 2023
On display at the ‘Becoming the Brontës’ (co-curated by the British Library, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library) , handwritten and crafted notebooks by Charlotte Bronte during her childhood and adolescence, that are bound in packaging originally used for Epsom salts, photographed for the Yorkshire Post by Tony Johnson. 29th June 2023

The exhibition explores the origins of the Brontës, following Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne's journey from childhood to Yorkshire's most famous literary family.

Many of the pieces are from Blavatnik Honresfield Library, unseen in public before, which features a huge collection of works by British authors such as Jane Austen and Walter Scott.

William Law, a mill owner who never married, had dedicated his life and home at Honresfield to the collection, with only one or two scholars ever having seen it before. When he died, it passed to his nephew, then family, before coming to auction in 2021.

There was uproar. Such a discovery is rare in British literary history, so significant that even the King waded in, warning their loss would be "too awful to contemplate". With a campaign led by the Friends of the National Libraries, raising more than £15m, they were saved for the nation, to be shared in the settings from which they were born.

An interactive display at the ‘Becoming the Brontës’ (co-curated by the British Library, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library) photographed for the Yorkshire Post by Tony Johnson. 29th June 2023An interactive display at the ‘Becoming the Brontës’ (co-curated by the British Library, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library) photographed for the Yorkshire Post by Tony Johnson. 29th June 2023
An interactive display at the ‘Becoming the Brontës’ (co-curated by the British Library, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library) photographed for the Yorkshire Post by Tony Johnson. 29th June 2023

Now Yorkshire's campaigners - the University of Leeds, the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the British Library, co-curate an exhibition to bring the Brontë treasures together just once.

Ms Prescott said they include some of the most magnificent finds to have ever come to light.

"There was a real risk of it being sold to the highest bidder, and then never seen again. This is the only time in our lifetimes we will see this in one place, and free and open to all."

Becoming the Brontës is open to the public from today until October 28, at the University of Leeds' Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​