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, Godmersham, to Cassandra Austen, 1813 September 23-24 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
282341
Accession number
MA 977.32
Creator
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817, sender.
Credit line
Purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr. in 1920.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 23 cm x 36.8 cm (unfolded)
Notes
With postmark and red wax seal, addressed to Miss Austen, Chawton, Alton, Hants [Hampshire].
Includes cross-writing: postscripts on p. 2.
The first three pages of the letter are written on Thursday, Sept. 23; "Friday" appears at the top of p. 4.
The postmark date is illegible; 1813 is based on September 23 being a Thursday.
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: Horn inside shield over "1810".
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
Commenting on fabrics and clothes; noting their visitors at Godmersham and her own visits in the neighborhood; reporting on her health and her mother's health; describing plans for members of the household to go to Goodnestone for a fair. The letter also includes allusions to Fanny Burney's The wanderer and a poem by William Cowper.