A CAMPAIGN has been launched to raise £25,000 by the end of this month to help ‘save’ a collection of rare Bronte books and manuscripts.

The items are part of the Honresfield Library, which came to light earlier this year after nearly 80 years in obscurity.

Sotheby’s has been instructed to sell the items across three auctions.

But a newly-formed consortium of libraries, museums and literary houses – including the Bronte Society – has been granted an opportunity to buy the collection and preserve it for the nation.

Fans of Haworth’s famous literary siblings, who penned classics such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, are being asked to support the campaign and help bring the Bronte treasures ‘back home’.

Items include a notebook of poems handwritten by Emily, a diary paper written by Anne and Emily, a family copy of Bewick’s A History of British Birds, seven miniature manuscripts by Charlotte and various letters.

The Honresfield Library – created by Alfred Law – also features rare books and manuscripts by Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell and Shakespeare.

The Bronte Society is working as part of the consortium, led by the Friends of the National Libraries, to raise £15 million in total.

An online fundraising page has been set-up by the society, at justgiving.com/campaign/honresfield-library, to raise the £25,000 element. Donations will be added to the society’s own contribution.

Rebecca Yorke, interim director at the Bronte Parsonage Museum, said: “After lying undiscovered for so many years, it is only right that these invaluable Bronte works should return to Yorkshire where they can be enjoyed by local residents and the people who flock to the sisters’ home county from all over the world. We are thrilled to have the chance to save this incredibly-rare collection.”