Autograph letter signed : Bath, to Cassandra Austen, 1799 June 2.

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Record ID: 
282225
Accession number: 
MA 977.4
Author: 
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817.
Date: 
1799 June 2.
Credit: 
Purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr. in 1920.
Description: 
1 item (4 p.) : ill. ; 22.5 cm
Notes: 

Forms part of a collection of 41 letters from Austen to her sister and two prints (MA 977.1-43).
High reserve.
The top quarter of p. 3-4 has been cut away; ca. 7 lines of text are missing from each of these pages.
With a drawing of a floral lace pattern on p.2.
With postmark and seal, addressed to Miss Austen, Steventon, Overton, Hants [Hampshire]; written from 13, Queen Square.

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Watermark: "Portal & Co 1796".

Summary: 

Reporting on Edward Austen's health and the treatments he is trying at Bath; describing a new cloak and hat and the fruits that women are wearing as ornaments; mentioning some forms of entertainment in Bath, including a "grand gala" at "Sydney Gardens" and a presentation of "the Colours to some Corps of Yeomanry or other, in the Crescent." The letter also mentions a young man she met who "has heard that Evelina was written by Dr. Johnson."

Provenance: 
Alfred Morrison sale (10 Dec. 1918) lot 2154; purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr. from the New York dealer Ernest Dressel North in 1920.