Why This Tiny Book Sold for Almost $1 Million Dollars

This teeny tiny book written by a teen just sold at auction for almost a million dollars. Of course, it wasn't just any teen author. It was the work of Charlotte Bronte, one of the most celebrated writers in the English language. The 1830 tome is incredibly rare. So this manuscript was written by Charlotte Bronte when she was 14 years old, so just a teenager. It's a collection of short stories that were published like a journal, like a magazine, and it was used to play with her brothers and sisters in their imaginary world called Glass Town. The Weed Manuscript consists of 4,000 words on 20 pages. There are only four others like it. Charlotte and her siblings, Anne, Emily, and Branwell, would use the little books as scripts, playing along to their stories with toy soldiers. The Bronte children had to keep their fantasy world a secret from their father, which explains why the book is so minute. It was copied so tiny simply because they had a very strict father, almost tyrannical, who did not want them to play, and it was copied in order to be hidden, probably from authority and from their father. Journal of a Frenchman. Paris, April 17th. At length, I am there, in the heart of true happiness, grandeur, and magnificence. The Brontes were a talented family, and Bronte wrote two novels before dying at age 29. Branwell was a poet and painter. His work included this portrait of his sisters. Emily penned that English-lit staple, Wuthering Heights. Tom Hardy and Andrew Lincoln appeared in this 2009 adaptation. I have so far been forbearing with you, sir. Your presence is a moral poison that would contaminate the most virtuous. And Charlotte Bronte is best known for her 1847 romantic novel, Jane Eyre. The book is ubiquitous on high school and college reading lists. It's also been adapted for the movies and TV several times, including in 2011 with Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska. I have known you, Mr. Rochester, and it strikes me with anguish to be torn from you. But before there was Jane Eyre, there were Charlotte's little pocket fantasies. And this is just the beginning of her writing. She's already very assured and knows exactly what she wants to write about, and so it's very important that we know these manuscripts. Though the manuscript was bought and sold, it is, in some senses, priceless. We estimated the 600 to 800,000 euros, which is a strong estimate, but at the same time is not because it's very difficult to set a price on such a unique manuscript, especially when it's English literature and literature by a woman. The volume was purchased by the Bronte Society and it will reside in the Bronte Parsonage Museum. The museum is dedicated to the family, a tourist attraction in the West Yorkshire town of Haworth, and now the only place to see these small works by a young genius. This is insideedition.com. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.