Part of a letter written by Charlotte Bront, in which she complains about having to wear white for her wedding, has been bought at auction by the Bront Society.

The sheaf of paper - for which the society paid slightly more than the £3,000 asking price - will go on display at the Bront Parsonage Museum in Haworth in the New Year.

Curator Rachel Terry said: "We are delighted, particularly because we have in the collection a fragment of the material used to make one of her dresses which she writes about."

The letter, which is signed by Charlotte, who was married in 1854 to curate Arthur Bell Nicholls at Haworth Church, refers to her wedding dress and other dresses she took on honeymoon to Ireland.

"It's fascinating because it also gives us information about her attitude towards wearing white," added Mrs Terry.

In the document Charlotte says: "Nothing would satisfy some of my friends but white, which I told you I would never wear. Accordingly, they dressed me in white by way of trial - and white I had to buy and did buy to my own amazement."

She added that they went on to convince her that she suited it, but Charlotte said that she insisted on getting cheap material.

The letter - nobody knows to whom it was written - was auctioned by Bonhams in London and was from a collection of letters and signatures of famous Victorians.

Charlotte, whose most famous novel is Jane Eyre, died in 1855, aged 39, the last of her three sisters and brother to die.