Manuscript letter exchange

Item author: Charlotte Bront and Robert Southey
Item date: 1837
Grant Value: 2,000
Item cost: 36,000
Item date acquired: 1995
Item institution: Brontë Parsonage Museum [Brontë Society]
Town/City: Haworth
County: West Yorkshire

One of the most famous literary exchanges of the 19th century. Southey wrote to Charlotte Bront Literature cannot be the business of a womans life and it ought not to be She replied meekly, promising to try to supress the desire to see her name in print. Richard Monkton Milnes met CB only once but he arranged a small pension for Arthur Nicholls so that he was able to marry Charlotte. Illustrated at p.22 of AR

Item Provenance
Collection of Richard Monkton Milnes, sold by his descendants, Christies June 1995