RECENTLY-discovered manuscripts by Charlotte Bronte are being published for the first time in a new book from the Bronte Society.

Charlotte Bronte: The Lost Manuscripts reproduces a 77-line poem and a 74-line story written by the author of Jane Eyre while she was in her teens.

The manuscripts were found tipped into a copy of Robert Southey’s The Remains of Henry Kirke White which belonged to Charlotte’s mother, Maria, and which was acquired by the Bronte Society in 2016.

The Lost Manuscripts contains transcripts and images of the unpublished fragments as well as reproductions of the annotations and sketches that were made by the Bronte children in their mother’s book.

In addition to this, the book contains four new essays by Bronte scholars Emma Butcher, Barbara Heritage, Sarah E Maier and Ann-Marie Richardson, which between them explore the significance of the find.

There is also an account by Ann Dinsdale, Principal Curator at the Bronte Parsonage Museum, of the remarkable story of how the lost manuscripts made their way back to Haworth Parsonage after spending much of the last 150 years in America.

John Thirlwell, chairman of the Bronte Society, said: “We are thrilled to share these previously-unpublished manuscripts by Charlotte Bronte alongside the family annotations contained within Mrs Bronte’s much-loved book.

“The Lost Manuscripts is a beautiful and unique publication which we hope will be treasured by lovers of literature and the Brontes across the world.”

Charlotte Bronte: The Lost Manuscripts costs £20, and copies will be available from November 1 from the museum bookshop or by visiting available bronte.org.uk/bronte-shop.

Maria Bronte was born in 1783, the eighth child of 12 born to successful merchant and property owner Thomas Branwell and Anne Carne at Penzance in Cornwall.

The family were potted prominent Methodists, the men taking key roles in public life in Penzance, and Maria was not the only woman of the family to marry a clergyman.

Maria moved to Yorkshire to look after her aunt and uncle, and while helping in their new Methodist training school at Woodhouse Grove, near Yeadon, met Patrick when he arrived to become an external examiner for the students.

The couple married within the year, in Guiseley in 1812, making a home in Hightown where their first two children Maria and Elizabeth were born.

They then moved to Thornton, where Charlotte, Patrick, Emily and Anne were born, and in 1820 the family moved to Haworth. Maria developed ovarian cancer soon afterwards and died seven months later.