Brontë note goes for £92,000 
to mystery foreign fan

The tiny three-inch manuscript was yesterday bought at auction for £92,450 by an unknown buyer from overseas.

The poem, I’ve Been Wandering in the Greenwoods, was written on December 14 1829, when Charlotte was only 13.

Sally McDonald, chairman of The Brontë Society Council, said: “It would have been wonderful to have been able to bring this little gem back to Haworth where it was written.

“Composed by Charlotte Brontë when she was in her teens this poem shows the emerging talent of the woman who was to go on to write Jane Eyre.

“The society always hopes to see treasures such as this back at the Parsonage Museum in Haworth for all to enjoy.

“Such manuscripts rarely come to the market and although the text of the poem is already published, the original itself had latterly been in a private collection in America.”

The Society, which runs the Brontë Parsonage Museum at Haworth, near Bradford, wanted to acquire the manuscript because 2016 will mark the bi-centenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth.

The manuscript was expected to attract bids of between £40,000 and £45,000. The writing is so small the words are hard to read without a magnifying glass.

Luke Batterham, a valuer at auction house Bonhams, said: “It is a such an attractive and sought after item I’m not surprised that it sold at the price it did. Poetical manuscripts by Brontës are rare, and it is even rarer that any are offered at auction.”