Harriet's 1836 Penmanship Notebook Turned 1839-40 Scrapbook antique watercolor envelope The windows are glass

The windows are glass

with its little holes all along the points of the star on one side for releasing gas--as well as a mark on it with the word "Gas"

and nicely carved

And clearly drawn by someone who was themselves quite a confident artist

features a section of deep relief on either side

Harriet's 1836 Penmanship Notebook Turned 1839-40 Scrapbook antique watercolor envelope The windows are glassOn one hand I'm sad to see much of the beautiful penmanship in this 1836 notebook covered up, but on the other hand I love its having been repurposed as a scrapbook a few years later including for how that reminds use that perfect penmanship was nothing special! Lots of layers of information embedded here, with rich juxtapositions both content wise and formally; I really love the push and pull between pasted down bits of printed text and the hand