British novelist Charlotte Bronte (pictured here) was born on this - TopicsExpress

British novelist Charlotte Bronte (pictured here) was born on this date in 1816. Charlotte was the third of six children born to an Anglican clergyman. Despite short, tragic lives, Charlotte and her sisters Emily and Anne produced some of the great works of English literature. Charlotte’s first published work appeared in 1847. Jane Eyre, issued under the pen name Currer Bell, was an immediate commercial success. Suspicion soon arose, however, regarding the true identity of the author. In February 1848, Henry Longfellow commented in his journal, “We are reading a very interesting novel, Jane Eyre. Who wrote it? Nobody knows?” Her next effort appeared in the fall of 1849 entitled Shirley. In December, Fanny Longfellow wrote her brother Tom: “…I don’t know why you abuse Shirley. I think it is wonderfully good, and agree with all the Examiner says in its praise. A Yorkshire girl the authoress must be. Why is she not known? She must be worth hunting out.” The volume pictured here is likely the one Fanny was reading or had just read. It is an American version printed by Harper & Brothers of New York and bears the date 1850. However, Henry Longfellow signed the previous page and dated it 1849. Whether she was able to convince her brother of the book’s merits or not, Fanny’s supposition that the author was from Yorkshire was an astute one. Sadly, Charlotte died while pregnant in 1855 at just 38 years of age. Elizabeth Gaskell, a friend and fellow novelist, took up the task of writing a biography. A copy of The Life of Charlotte Bronte also remains in our book collection. Henry described it in May 1857 as “a tragic book of a sad family all dying one after another in the gloomy parsonage at Haworth.” He was not exaggerating. Tragedy struck early when Charlotte’s mother died in 1821 at 38 and with the loss of her two older sisters four years later at 11 and 12. While writing Shirley, death once again entered her life, taking her three remaining siblings between September 1848 and May 1848, the oldest of whom was 31. This was enough for Henry to suggest to his brother-in-law to, “Read the book, and hereafter never murmur nor complain at anything, which may befall you.” One can only imagine the effects on the family patriarch Patrick who lived 84 years until his death in 1861. -Ranger Garrett Images accessed from LONG Museum Collection and Wikimedia Commons