A letter written by Haworth’s Charlotte Bronte to a fan of her classic novel Jane Eyre will be sold at auction.
The novelist thanks pharmacist David Waldie for his praise in the note dated January 19, 1853, which is expected to fetch up to £12,000 at auction in Edinburgh.
Mr Waldie, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, wrote to Charlotte after being impressed by Jane Eyre, published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell.
She replied in her letter: “The sincere affection of a reader’s gratification is – I scarcely need to say – one of the much acceptable favours in which an author can be repaid for his labours.”
Charlotte died aged 38 in 1855 while pregnant with her first child. The letter addressed from “Gloucester Terrace, London” will be sold at Lyon and Turnbull on Wednesday.
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