BIB_ID
282313
Accession number
MA 977.23
Creator
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817, sender.
Credit line
Purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr. in 1920.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 23.2 x 37.8 cm (unfolded)
Notes
With postmark and black wafer, addressed to Miss Austen, Edward Austen's Esqr, Godmersham Park, Faversham, Kent; written from Castle Square.
A strip of paper has been cut out along the bottom of p. 3-4; 2-3 lines are missing on each side of the page.
Forms part of a collection of 41 letters from Austen to her sister and two prints (MA 977.1-43).
High reserve.
A strip of paper has been cut out along the bottom of p. 3-4; 2-3 lines are missing on each side of the page.
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: GATER 1808 on wove paper.
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
Expressing her intention "to go to as many Balls as possible" before leaving the neighborhood; describing "Our Ball," an event at which there were "many dozen young Women standing by without partners, & each of them with two ugly naked shoulders" and she danced with a man who "seems so little at home in the English Language that I beleive [sic] his black eyes may be the best of him"; asking if Cassandra knows of a place for a servant; reporting that their uncle and aunt are going to allow their brother James £100 a year.
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