''A Book of '' is a
miniature book of
poems by
Charlotte Brontë. It was written in 1829 when Brontë was aged 13.
The book is part of the collections of the
Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire.
[
''A Book of '' (the word ''rhymes'' is misspelt)]juvenilia
Juvenilia are literary, musical or artistic works produced by authors during their youth. Written juvenilia, if published at all, usually appears as a retrospective publication, some time after the author has become well known for later works.
...
.[
The book sold for $520 in an auction at Walpole Galleries in New York City in 1916 ().][ making it possibly the most expensive book ever sold, in terms of price per unit of surface area.][
The book was purchased by a British literary charity, the ]Friends of the National Libraries Friends of the National Libraries (FNL) is a British registered charity founded in 1931 that supports the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It i ...
, which donated it to the Brontë Parsonage Museum.[ The estate of ]T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
and the Garfield Weston Foundation donated funds to the Friends of the National Libraries to assist in buying the book.[ The principal curator of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Ann Dinsdale, said that it was "...always emotional when an item belonging to the Brontë family is returned home and this final little book, coming back to the place it was written when it had been thought lost, is very special for us."][ At the time that it acquired ''A Book of '', the museum already had nine other miniature books made by the Brontë siblings, and expected to receive seven more from the Honresfield Library in the near future.][
]
Contents
The ''Book of '' has 15 pages with handstitched brown paper covers. It contains 10 poems.[ The title page is inscribed ". Sold by Nobody. And printed by Herself".]
List of poems
The contents of the book were listed by Brontë in her 1830 list of her work to date.[
# "The Beauty of Nature"
# "A Short Poem"
# "Meditations while Journeying in a Canadian Forest"
# "Song of an Exile"
# "On Seeing the Ruins of the Tower of Babel"
# "A Thing of 14 Lines"
# "Lines written on the Bank of a River one fine Summer Evening"
# "Spring, a Song"
# "Autumn, a Song"
]
See also
*'' Glass Town''
*''The Young Men's Magazine
''The Young Men's Magazine'' is the last of a series of three magazines written by Branwell Brontë and his sister Charlotte. The journals were handwritten mini-books containing articles, stories, letters, and reviews, inspired by and following th ...
''
* List of most expensive books and manuscripts
References
External links
AnneBronte.Org - A Book of is found
{{DEFAULTSORT:Book of Ryhmes, A
1829 books
Works by Charlotte Brontë
1829 poems
English poetry collections