A rare autograph letter signed
Martha Washington, 15 February 1794
WASHINGTON, Martha (1731-1802). Autograph letter signed (“[M] Washington”) to her niece, [Frances] “Fanny” [Bassett], Philadelphia, 15 February 1794.

Four pages, 229 x 186mm (partial fold separation affecting signature, silked).

A rare letter from Martha Washington, advising on the President's travel plans: “The time is drawing near to the rising of the Congress but when it is probable that the President will have it in his power to come to Mt. Vernon he cannot at this time tell as it depends on many things as are to happen and take place before he can fix a time to leave this city for as long a time as it will take him to go home and back, and in that case we shall be very sorry that you should leave friends sooner than you intend, particularly as the President will not stay at Mount Vernon a moment longer than he has looked over his farms.” She updates Basset on family news noting that “the girls” (likely referring to her granddaughter, Elanor Parke Custis, and Basset's daughter, Anna Maria) both of whom were suffering from “bad colds ever since they arrived” in Philadelphia. She also writes of her nephew, “J[ohn?] Dandridge’s marriage, and wish him every happyness this world can give him. I wish Patty may marry well. She is a clever girl and I am the more desirous that she should marry well as I am sure it will be an advantage to her young sister." Letters by Martha Washington are rare and seldom appear on the market, especially examples mentioning her husband.