Brontë letter is returned to parsonage museum 150 years after it was written

It is from a Mary Holmes, a struggling writer and musician, originally from Gargrave, Skipton, who wrote to Charlotte for advice on her book.

She worked as music teacher to the daughters of novelist William Thackeray, author of Vanity Fair, and he had already found somebody to review the book in a national newspaper, as well as offering to help pay for it to be privately printed.

Thackeray passed on Charlotte’s address so that Miss Holmes could send it to the author for advice.

Charlotte’s response, dated April 22, 1852, and sent from the Parsonage in Haworth, was friendly and encouraging – which was not always the case. The author of Jane Eyre, by now a bestselling literary star, could be dismissive of fellow authors seeking advice.

Staff at the museum say she was either keen to do Thackeray a favour, or she spotted genuine talent in Miss Holmes’s work, for she wrote that the book: “seems to [me] very clever and very learned. You erred in telling me to skip the first chapters; I am glad I disobeyed the injunction.”

Andrew McCarthy, director of the Bronte Parsonage Museum, said: “In 1852 Charlotte was riding the crest of her success; life was very different from when she too had been a struggling governess.

“Of all the Brontës Charlotte was probably the most ambitious; a letter such as this gives a quick glimpse into what it meant for her to have achieved the fame she had sought for so long.”

The museum say Miss Holmes has clearly mentioned in her letter to Charlotte that she has worked as a governess as Charlotte replies: You are right in supposing that I must feel a degree of interest in the details of a Governess-life. “That life has on me the hold of actual experience; to all who live it – I cannot but incline with a certain sympathy; and any kind feeling they express for me – comes pleasantly and meets with grateful acceptance.”

Charlotte herself had not always had a favourable response when writing to the literary stars of the day for advice. The poet laureate Robert Southey famously wrote to her: ‘Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be.’

The letter, which was bought at an auction at Bonham’s, in London, will go on display at the parsonage museum from early next year.