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.

Letter from Jane Austen, Bath, to Cassandra Austen, 1801 May 21-22 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
282259
Accession number
MA 977.14
Creator
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817, sender.
Credit line
Purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr. in 1920.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 23.2 x 37.2 cm (unfolded)
Notes
With postmark and seal or wafer removed, addressed to Miss Austen, The Revd F.C. Fowles, Kintbury, Newbury; written from "Paragon."
Forms part of a collection of 41 letters from Austen to her sister and two prints (MA 977.1-43).
High reserve.
Inscriptions/Markings
Watermark: Shield with horn inside over cursive letters "PB".
Provenance
Bequeathed by Cassandra Elizabeth Austen to Fanny, Lady Knatchbull, in 1845; inherited by Lord Brabourne, 1882; probably in the Puttick & Simpson sale of 26-8 June 1893; Alfred Morrison sale, 10 December 1918, lot 2154; purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr. from the New York dealer Ernest Dressel North in 1920.
Summary
Lamenting that the family's "views on G.P. Buildings seem all at an end" because the houses there are damp and may cause "putrid fevers"; answering enquiries from her sister's last letter; describing her friendship with Mrs. Chamberlayne and visits from various acquaintances; complaining that "the whole World is in a conspiracy to enrich one part of our family at the expense of another." Includes a reference to William Godwin: a Mr. Pickford "is as raffish in his appearance as I would wish every Disciple of Godwin to be."