Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Autograph letters signed (28) : Venice; San Marcello per l'Abbetone, Pistoia; Bassano Veneto; and Florence, Italy; and Lugano, Switzerland; to [E. Constance Oldham], 1885 June 18-1894 Aug. 8.

BIB_ID
192888
Accession number
MA 3880 (1-28)
Creator
Alexander, Francesca, 1837-1917.
Display Date
1885 June 18-1894 Aug. 8.
Credit line
Purchase, Acquisitions Fund; 1973.
Description
28 items (95 p.) ; 20.5 cm and smaller (many 15.7 cm) + with 16 envelopes.
Notes
All on personalized stationery with "Francesca" embossed in corner.
Most were torn in half and mended.
Summary
Discussing at length the ill health of John Ruskin (Ms. Oldham's godfather) and urging him to make a visit to Italy; concerning Ms. Oldham's contributions to the poor, and Ms. Alexander's work. A letter of 1885 Aug. 19 notes, "I am finishing a picture which he asked me to draw for him just before he was taken ill, and I want to have it ready to send to him as soon as he is well enough to be amused by it." She mentions Ruskin's work in a letter of 1894 Aug. 8: "The page which our dear friend gave you from the Roadside Songs is part of an old hymn to the Cross: I am very glad that it is in your hands, and that it reminds you sometimes both of him and of me. I have not the heart to write about him; but I hope, as you do, that he does not suffer ... "