A miniscule manuscript written by Charlotte Brontë at the age of 14 sold for a record £690,000 at auction.
The unpublished Young Men’s Magazine, Number 2, penned by the second generation Irish writer in 1830, had never been seen before its private owner offered it to the highest bidder via Sotheby’s London’s auction house.
The piece is deemed the most important of the Brontë family’s creative offerings to be auctioned in 30 years and fetched far above its £200-300,000 estimate as a bidding war erupted at the New Bond Street venue.
The 35 x 61mm piece of fiction, set in Glass Town, fetched £690,850 - a record at auction for a manuscript by any of the Brontë sisters.
Gabriel Heaton, of Sotheby’s Books & Manuscripts Department, said: “Crafted with extraordinary care, this minute manuscript marks Charlotte Brontë’s first burst of creativity and, significantly, provides a rare and intimate insight into one of history’s great literary minds.”
Brontë’s father, Patrick Brontë, was born in Co. Down in an area situated between Rathfriland and Banbridge now known as Brontë Homeland.
