Lady Susan : autograph manuscript, fair copy, of a novel, undated.

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Record ID: 
132591
Accession number: 
MA 1226
Author: 
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817.
Date: 
undated.
Credit: 
Purchased, 1947.
Description: 
1 item (159 p.) ; 19.1 cm
Notes: 

High reserve.
Left complete but unpublished and without title at the author's death.
Written on 79 leaves, 2 of them bearing the date 1805 in the watermark.

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Watermark: Fragment of lion(?) with sword inside crowned triple circle, page 3.
Watermark: Fragment of lion(?) with sword inside crowned triple circle, page 7.
Watermark: Fragment of lion(?) with sword inside crowned triple circle, page 9-10.
Watermark: Fragment of lion(?) with sword inside crowned triple circle, page 11.
Watermark: Fragment of lion(?) with sword inside crowned triple circle, page 19-20.
Watermark: Fragment of lion(?) with sword inside crowned triple circle, page 21.
Watermark: SHARP, page 55.
Watermark: Fragment of lion(?) with sword inside crowned triple circle, page 56-57.
Watermark: Lion(?) with sword inside crowned triple circle, page 70-71.
Watermark: 1805, page 85.
Watermark: SHARP, page 97-98.
Watermark: 1805, page 107-108.
Watermark: SHARP, page 151-152.

Summary: 

Being a fair copy in the author's hand, written on the rectos and versos of 79 leaves; with a dedication, most likely in Austen's hand, "For / Lady Knatchbull."

Housed in: 
Blue cloth drop-spine box (34.2 cm.)
Binding: 
Orange morocco with elaborate gold tooling, lettered "Jane Austen / The Original Manuscript of Lady Susan / presented to her neice Lady Knatchbull"(32.5 cm.); bound by Rivière; the manuscript has been disbound and is housed separately.
Provenance: 
Purchased from James F. Drake in 1947; the manuscript was presented to Fanny Knight (Lady Knatchbull), from whose family it passed (1891) to the Earl of Roseberry; at the sale of his library (Sotheby, 26 June 1933) it was acquired by Walter M. Hill; the Morgan Library purchased it in 1947 from James F. Drake.
Catalog Link: 
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Department: 
Literary and Historical Manuscripts