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, Southampton, to Cassandra Austen, 1809 January 17-18 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
282319
Accession number
MA 977.24
Creator
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817, sender.
Credit line
Purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr. in 1920.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 23.2 x 37.5 cm (unfolded)
Notes
With postmark and wafer, addressed to Miss Austen, Edwd Austen's Esqr, Godmersham Park, Faversham, Kent; written from Castle Square.
Most of the first three pages are written on "Tuesday"; "Wednesday" appears near the bottom of p. 3.
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
Noting the cold weather: "everything seems to turn to snow this winter"; mentioning the people who have left or returned to Southampton; commenting on her current reading, including "Ida of Athens by Miss Owenson" and "a third volume of sermons from Hamstall" by the Reverend Edward Cooper; discussing her mother's improved health following the "return of one of her old complaints"; noting that she and Martha will be attending the Assembly in honor of the Queen's birthday.