The Search after Happiness

What it is

This is a handwritten manuscript of a short children's tale, The Search after Happiness, dated 17 August 1829. The title page reads 'A Tale by C Bronte' and says it was printed by herself, so the young author made the book by hand. The manuscript is held by the British Library. The record describes Brontë as its adapter.

Why it matters

The tale is one of the earliest surviving pieces of Brontë's writing, made when she was a child and long before Jane Eyre was published in 1847. It shows how she practised storytelling and bookmaking from a young age. A modern transcription of the manuscript exists. It normalised spelling and punctuation, so the original spelling is not fully visible in that version.

Look closer

• What does the handwriting and the title page tell you about how the young author pictured her readers?
• Why might a young writer choose a theme like happiness, and what does the tale suggest she thought happiness was?
• What can you see in the manuscript that a modern edition does not show?