Friday, February 16, 2007

Charlotte Brontë thimble to be displayed.

This was announced February 1st. I'm a bit late with it as I've been trying--to no avail--to find a photo of the thimble.

From: the Yorkshire Post
"A thimble used by the Brontë sisters in the 1840s will go on display today as a Yorkshire museum opens its doors for the first time this year.
"The item was discovered in a sewing box belonging to sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne and will now form part of an exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth.
"The thimble is part of a permanent display about the Brontë sisters which has been revamped for this year. And the museum is also hosting a new exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of Elizabeth Gaskell's biography: The Life of Charlotte Brontë. The exhibition runs until the end of the year and will include objects, personal belongings and letters not usually on display along with Mrs Gaskell's original handwritten manuscript on loan from Manchester University Library which will be at the museum for a short period.
"The museum's librarian, Ann Dinsdale, said: 'Mrs Gaskell met Charlotte Brontë late in life and they became friends. She developed a bit of an obsession with her and was more interested in the life of Charlotte Brontë than in her work. She was upset by criticisms of Charlotte's novels as containing coarseness and vulgarity and she wrote the biography to set the record straight.' " (John Roberts)

From: the Telegraph & Argus
"Brontë guardians are dusting down precious artefacts in preparation for the 2007 season at the Parsonage Museum in Haworth.
"Among items in a new exhibition will be a thimble and needlework box which were owned by Charlotte, author of Jane Eyre.
"Museum manager Alan Bentley said: 'The workbox was bought for the museum in 1933 but it has not been on display for some time. The thimble is interesting because it is so tiny and reflects how small Charlotte was - just 4 feet 11 inches.' "

From Jane Eyre:
Chapter 4
Long did the hours seem while I waited the departure of the company, and listened for the sound of Bessie's step on the stairs: sometimes she would come up in the interval to seek her thimble or her scissors, or perhaps to bring me something by way of supper--a bun or a cheese-cake--then she would sit on the bed while I ate it, and when I had finished, she would tuck the clothes round me, and twice she kissed me, and said, "Good night, Miss Jane."
Chapter 6
At first, being little accustomed to learn by heart, the lessons appeared to me both long and difficult; the frequent change from task to task, too, bewildered me; and I was glad when, about three o'clock in the afternoon, Miss Smith put into my hands a border of muslin two yards long, together with needle, thimble, &c., and sent me to sit in a quiet corner of the schoolroom, with directions to hem the same. At that hour most of the others were sewing likewise; but one class still stood round Miss Scatcherd's chair reading, and as all was quiet, the subject of their lessons could be heard, together with the manner in which each girl acquitted herself, and the animadversions or commendations of Miss Scatcherd on the performance.

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