Jane Austen letter

 

Austenprose - A Jane Austen Blog

 

The recent news of a previously unseen Jane Austen letter is misleading. Written in 1799 and sent to her sister Cassandra, it is listed in Deidre Le Faye's JANE AUSTEN'S LETTERS, Oxford University Press (1995) as number 17 and on p. 366 with the note: Provenance. Bequeathed by CEA (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; Mrs. Hester Forbes-Julian (1861-1934)' be...queathed by her to the Torquay Natural History Society and rediscovered in in their archives 1989. It may not have been on view to the public, but Austen scholars have studied it and it is not a newly discovered or previously unseen letter.