From Byron to Botany - A late-Georgian/early Victorian woman's commonplace book / album

Descripción

Approximately 265 pages, with perhaps 80 unused, these interspersed. 26.5cm x 21cm. The earliest dated entry is from 1827 and the latest 1848, with most from the 1830s. There is a page with an 1826 watermark. The album is firmly bound in Morocco, elaborately tooled and gilt decorated, with gilt to all page edges and blue endpapers. The front endpaper has been removed, probably to conceal the identity of the original owner, though the identity could perhaps be elucidated from the initials and signatures within. It is firmly bound. Externally there is some slight rubbing, a few bumps and some light marking. The earlier portion of the album is dominated by poetry, mottos and extracts, including poems by Byron and lines found in his bible. There are at least half a dozen contributors, though most are written in the same hand. One poem by a contributor is titled: "Lines written and addressed to Miss L…. G……. on her requesting the author to contribute something to her album.". There are perhaps fifteen sketches and watercolours, including an accomplished drawing of Lady Hamilton. The album is not ordered entirely chronologically but at least partially so, and towards the rear the emphasis shifts from romantic poetry and contributions from (presumably) fascinating young men towards an interest in botany and the natural world, including a page of feathers and perhaps 30 pages of leaves and ferns, some annotated. There is also a page of seals and crests. A particularly fine example of a commonplace book, compiled by and indicating the range of intellectual, social, aesthetic and moral interests of a woman of high social status in the late-Georgian and early Victorian period, spanning slightly over 20 years of her life. N° de ref. del artículo 5698

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