A poem by Jane Eyre author Charlotte Bronte has sold at auction for a world record price.

The work fetched £92,450 – the highest figure ever paid for a poem by the Haworth literary sister.

The eventual price was more than double the pre-sale estimate of £45,000.

The 16-line poem, called I’ve Been Wandering in the Greenwoods, in Charlotte’s handwriting, went under the hammer at Bonhams in London this afternoon.

It was bought by an anonymous overseas bidder.

The figure puts the value of the poem at more than £1,000 per word – among the highest prices for any prose by a native of Yorkshire.

Luke Batterham, a valuer at Bonhams, said it had attracted huge interest from around the world.

He said it was a “very attractive and sought-after item” and added that he was not surprised it sold at such a high price.

A Bonhams spokesman added: “Poetical manuscripts by Charlotte Bronte are extremely rare. Only two others have been sold at auction in 40 years or more and this may be the last poem by her in private hands.”

The poem was among more than 260 poetical manuscripts and portraits of poets that were being sold by Oxfordshire collector Roy Davids.

Charlotte, who was born in 1816, is best known for Jane Eyre but she also penned about 200 poems.

The one that sold at auction today was among her earliest. It is dated December 14, 1829, when she was 13.

The poem, like other works by the Bronte children, was penned in tiny handwriting.

Bronte expert and author Juliet Barker said this was probably partly due to the expense and shortage of paper. She said the Bronte children developed the minuscule hand – designed to look like bookprint – to allow them to write many more words to the page.

Much of the writing cannot be read without a magnifying glass.