A public appeal has been launched to bring a recently-discovered and previously unpublished Charlotte Bronte manuscript to the literary family’s Haworth home

The Bronte Society is seeking help raising funds to buy the work, a homework essay written by Charlotte for the man she loved.

The society was told in December of the previously unknown piece, which is in private ownership.

A single-page document, written in French on both sides, it was assigned as homework by Charlotte’s teacher, Monsieur Constantin Heger, at the Pensionnat Heger school he and his wife ran in Brussels. Heger has added his corrections to the work.

“This exciting discovery sheds light on a formative time in Charlotte’s life and contributes substantially to our understanding of her character,” said Professor Ann Sumner, the Bronte Society’s executive director.

“We strongly believe it belongs here in Haworth at Charlotte’s home, as part of our unparalleled Bronte collection, and as a resource for scholars.”

Charlotte fell in love with Heger, who was married with children, but that affection was never reciprocated.

Several letters she wrote to him, now held by the British Library, were discovered torn to pieces in his waste paper bin.

They had been painstakingly stitched back together by Heger’s wife, Claire, possibly to preserve evidence of Charlotte’s indiscretion.

The doomed love affair was only made public when Heger’s son, Paul, donated the letters to the British Museum in 1913.

The Bronte Society declined to say how much it needed to buy the manuscript, entitled L’Amour Filial, but said it had already been “generously supported” by the Victoria & Albert Purchase Fund and the Friends of National Libraries.

Society chairman, Sally McDonald, said: “The fact this work is unpublished adds enormously to its significance. We are delighted to launch this appeal and thank all those who have so far contributed.”

Visit bronte.org.uk to make a donation.