Purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr. in 1920.
1 item (4 pages) ; 23.2 x 37.8 cm (unfolded)
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.
Watermark: GATER 1808 on wove paper.
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.
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.