English Biographer John H. Ingram Prepares to Help A. Mary F. Robinson with Her Famous Biography of Emily Bronte, and Asking for Any Information About Emily

John Henry Ingram was an English biographer and editor with a special interest in Edgar Allan Poe.

Autograph Letter Signed, 2 pages, London, March 18, 1882 to H. Buxton Forman regarding a biography a lady was preparing on Emily Bronte. “It is so long since I have bothered you on literary matters that you must have flattered yourself that you had got rid of me. But I am again wanting to profit by your experience. Under my editorship a literary lady is preparing a work on Emily Bronte, and I am desirous of obtaining every item, known or unknown, likely to be useful. Can you refer me to any person likely to prove useful, or to any work, magazine papers, or anything whatever? I have the first edition of C. Bronte’s Life, of Wuthering Heights; the Poems of C.E. and A. Bell, Jottings by W.P.P., Haworth Past and Present, Swinburne & Wymyss Reid on C. Bronte, Grundy’s Pictures of the Past and various magazine papers. I am very busy both in and out of office – have a grand literary adventure on hand of which you shall have full particulars as soon as possible. What are you doing in literature? P.S. I shall be very grateful for the slightest clue to aught about Emily B.” The “literary lady” was Mary Frances Robinson. Henry Buxton Forman was a Victorian-era bibliographer and antiquarian bookseller. At this time what he was doing in literature was editing a 5 volume set of the works of Keats.

Ingram dedicated himself to the resurrection of Poe’s reputation. He published the first reliable biography of the author and a four volume collection of his works. Besides his books on Poe he wrote biographies of Christopher Marlowe and Jane Austen and a book on haunted homes of England among others. Agnes Mary Frances Robinson was a poet, novelist, essayist, literary critic, and translator. Her work on Emily Bronte for the Eminent Women series of books was published in 1883 with Ingram listed as the co-author. It was one of the first biographies of Emily.