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| Charlotte Bronte's Book of Common Prayer |
I was very much looking forward to meeting up with my French and two Spanish friends in Cambridge, a city they had wished to visit for a long time. Of course, I was also delighted to be able to return to visit Patrick Brontë’s alma mater, having spent a wonderful weekend there in 2018, staying at St John’s College where he studied after arriving from Ireland in 1812 at the age of 25.
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| My European friends enjoying a stroll around St John's College, Cambridge |
In the summer months, St John’s, like many other universities, opens its doors to the general public, offering excellent B&B facilities. My Brontë travelling companion and I had thoroughly enjoyed our 2018 stay there following very much in the footsteps of the father of the Brontës. You can read my earlier blog post about Cambridge here if you are interested https://mytravelswiththebrontes.blogspot.com/2023/10/cambridge-with-patrick-bronte.html?m=1
Unfortunately, on this occasion, we were unable to stay at St John’s as our dates were unavailable. If you are interested in staying you can book directly via the St John's College website or via a company called University Rooms University Rooms St John's Cambridge B&B
Prior to arriving in Cambridge, I had wondered if there was anything further to do with the Brontës that I had missed on my earlier visit, but nothing came to mind. However, I had read somewhere, but where exactly I cannot recall, that Arthur Bell Nicholls had gifted a Book of Common Prayer to Charlotte in 1849 following the publication of 'Shirley', the novel she had heroically completed following the deaths over nine months of her last three siblings.
I had previously Googled Charlotte’s common book of prayer and came across a post from the Cambridge University Library Special Collections blog. The link to it is here and I’ve also copied it below. https://specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/?p=12485#comment-156971
I I sent a message via their blog to enquire if the public could view the prayer book in their collection and was told that I would be very welcome to come to the Special Collections Department to see it. So now I had found another Bronte related activity to enjoy on my return trip to Cambridge! I did inform them too that Arthur was born in either 1818 or 1819 not 1809 as in their blog post!
To view the book I had to join the library on a temporary one-time membership basis which would allow me a one week membership within the year and is free of charge. I dutifully completed their online form to become a library member and had to upload a photo of myself to go onto my card.
Everything was handled very efficiently and I received an email to say my membership card had been generated and I could collect it from the library reception desk on the day of my arrival but I needed to bring two forms of ID with me, one a photo ID and one a utility bill before they could hand over my card.
The library opens at 9.00a.m. and the Special Collections Department at 9.30a.m. I had emailed the Special Collections Department in advance to say that I wished to see Charlotte Bronte's Book of Common Prayer and the time and date of my visit. I enjoyed a very pleasant email correspondence with Liam Sims, a Rare Book Specialist, who wasn't aware, or had forgotten, that they had Charlotte's prayer book until I enquired, but when he checked, he told me it was printed by J. Roberts, for the Company of Stationers in 1751 and was at the shelfmark Rit.d.775.1 (1). He sent me this link so I could see where it was in their collection of rare books:
https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/iojq9k/44CAM_ALMA21328264240003606
Liam usefully advised me that there is free parking directly outside the University of Cambridge library which is off West Road, a little out of the centre of Cambridge.
He said the book would be ready for me to view if I gave him my card code in advance so they could fetch the book for 9.30a.m. when the Special Collections Department opened and told me to grab a cushion as I came in to rest the book on. He said I would be allowed to take photos without flash.
I now had a mission to get to the University of Cambridge library from my Lancashire home at 9.00a.m. but I was also mindful that I had to be at Cambridge train station at 11.30a.m. to meet my European friends who were travelling into London from Paris on the Eurostar that morning and would be hopping on a train from Kings Cross to Cambridge.
To make sure I would arrive at the library for 9.00a.m. I decided to travel down south and stay in a B&B just outside of Cambridge the night before. Early the next morning, after a welcome breakfast, I headed off for the library and got there twenty minutes before the opening time and so parked at the padlocked gate poised to be the first car in!
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| The gates opened at 8.55a.m. I was first in the queue! |
Once the gates were opened I parked right outside the grand building and joined a few other early birds who had walked there. At 9.00a.m. the large doors opened and I was the first customer of the day at the desk.
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| Cambridge University Library. |
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| Cambridge University Library |
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| A novel book drop for when the library is closed. |
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| The grand entrance to the library |
My card was indeed ready and, after showing my ID, I was directed to the Rare Books Department but advised I would need to leave my bag in the locker room. I was told that no ink pens can be taken into the Rare Books section and was given a Cambridge University pencil! I was ready! The journey down had been long and I had completed all of the necessary membership requirements and passed the security checks so I could now climb the sweeping staircase to the first floor.
I loved strolling along the corridors and past shelf after shelf of books. The smell of the books is something I really noticed and liked. The ceilings are inlaid wood and very attractive and there are lots of tables, chairs and armchairs in recesses inviting you to sit down and read - it's a bibliophile's paradise!
I followed my map and was outside the Rare Books Department doors at 9.15a.m.
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| Waiting for the Rare Books Department to open |
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| Plenty of handy maps. |
With a quarter of an hour still to kill, I pottered about, browsing some book shelves outside. Then at 9.25a.m. with just five minutes to go until I could get to see Arthur Bell Nicholl's thoughtful and kind gift to a lady who had been so sadly bereaved, not once but three times in nine months and who had battled to finish writing her novel 'Shirley,' working through all of her pain and grief, the fire alarm went off.
I stood in utter disbelief and wondered if it was just a false alarm and hoped a message would be put out to that effect. But no...over the loudspeaker a message was repeated that there was a fire in the building and we must evacuate. This message was repeated and repeated all the way out of the building accompanied by the alarm. The hush of the library was shattered!
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| University Security Wardens |
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| The request to evacuate written in many languages just in case visitors could not understand or indeed hear the alarm and message. |
I couldn't believe it! Everything had gone so well, from my initial contact with the library by email, becoming a temporary member, down to my journey to the university library, arriving with plenty of time to spare and enough time to enjoy viewing the book before going to meet my friends at the train station at 11.30a.m. and suddenly there I was, without my coat and bag standing back outside the library on the steps listening to the alarm and the repeated instruction to leave the building. I had no idea if there was a fire or if it was a false alarm. I was worrying about the loss of all the books if it was a real fire. I was wondering if we would be let back in and how, given my bag was still in the locker, I would be able to get to the train station for 11.30a.m. to meet my friends if we were not!
About twenty long minutes later and, with great relief, we were allowed back into the building and I retraced my steps to the Rare Collection Department. I was the first person in and told the lady at the desk who I was and what I had requested to see. She said the book was indeed ready and I needed to select a cushion from the many on a shelf. But I had no idea which sort of cushion to choose. There were large, medium and small ones, flat and thin ones and plumper ones. She kindly chose a cushion for me and placed Charlotte's Book of Common Prayer on the cushion for me.
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| A staff member helping me to carefully place the book on the correct cushion. |
I stood there slightly aghast and in awe. She then said, if you need to keep a page open and stop it from turning I would need to put the weighted snake on it. I looked confused and she showed me how to gently lay the long cloth-bound weight across the pages to keep the book open. "I am allowed to touch the book and turn the pages?" I asked incredulously and she looked a bit confused and smiled saying, "Yes of course. I will leave you here with the book, please return it to the desk when you have finished".
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| The weighted clothbound snake to stop the pages from turning |
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| A very colourful edition. |
Oh my...I felt quite reverential and it was a very special moment to pick up and hold the very book that the charming and thoughtful Arthur Bell Nicholls had selected, purchased and taken to the Parsonage to give to Charlotte in 1849. To hold the very book that Charlotte had held and turn the pages of the book she had read and which, no doubt, would have given her much solace at a time of great sorrow, was amazing. There I was, holding her book and turning the pages as she had done 177 years earlier!!
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| Holding Arthur's gift to Charlotte as he had done 177 years earlier |
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| I wonder if Charlotte smiled as I am when she received Arthur's gift. |
Arthur, being Arthur, had not inscribed a message on the flyleaf saying "For Charlotte from Arthur". No, that would not be Arthur's style. He would have gently and quietly gifted her the book - no fanfare and no fuss. Why did he give her the book I wondered? Was it to acknowledge her perseverance and determination on completing her novel' Shirley' which must have been torture on some occasions, as Charlotte had found herself sitting completely alone in the dining room where she had spent many years writing with her sisters? Was it to acknowledge his respect for her courage to push herself to work through her grief and her pain? Was it to support her through her losses and grief - a book of prayer to soothe her sorrows? Probably all of those things and so typical of Arthur.
Was it at this point that Arthur may have started to take notice of Charlotte and the woman she was, a woman of courage, integrity and bravery leading him to eventually fall in love with her? Whatever the reason behind his desire to give her the gift, it shows Arthur as the gentle and considerate man he was.
But for me, the most poignant fact was that it was not Arthur who had inscribed a message on the flyleaf of the book - it was Charlotte who wrote the following in her tiny handwriting:
Charlotte Brontë
Haworth
from Mr. Nicholls on the publication of "Shirley."
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| Charlotte's small handwriting to record who had given her the book |
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| Charlotte recording when she was given the book "on the publication of 'Shirley' |
She evidently welcomed and appreciated his gift so much that she chose to write the name of the person who had given her the book and the reason why it was given on the flyleaf. Maybe the seed of her future love and admiration for Arthur, who would go on to become her much loved husband on 29th June 1854, was sown on the day he handed her this book. I can imagine him standing there, a tall, well-built man, thirty years of age quietly handing a diminutive lady aged thirty-three his carefully chosen gift. I wonder what she was thinking after he had graciously left the room? I imagine she would have been touched by his kindness and consideration and quite rightly so.
I will leave you with some photos of Arthur’s thoughtful gift to Charlotte.
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After an eventful visit to the library at Cambridge University I carefully tied up the book with the cloth ribbons and reverentially walked with it to hand it back to the staff. It had been a special time for me. Now it was time to get to Cambridge railway station.
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Tying up Charlotte's Book of Common Prayer with the cloth ribbons
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excellent as usual. Apart from the inscription had Charlotte written elsewhere in the book?
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