(Page from a 19th century English scrapbook)

Unidentified

A page from the scrapbook of a young British woman from around 1825, this historic ephemera records a small window into the life of early 19th century England. Poems, quotes, and a rhyming love letter to "S__ Dxxx" are handwritten in neat calligraphy, and hand-drawn and painted feathers, and flowers, shells, and a moth have been cut from a sketchbook and collaged throughout. Additionally, four engraved images have been cut and collaged from the pages of society books: two portraits of gentlemen (one of the Irish tenor Thomas Moore; one simply titled "Anglesey") and two images of noted estates and townships (Moor Park and Southampton/Hants).

The delightfully universal hallmarks of a teen or young person's emotion colors this hand-crafted page, which has been torn from its original housing and was once framed. Like a diary, the writings -- which have each been given their own decorative embellishments -- laments the behavior of men, quotes Goethe, thrills over the performance of Moore, and records a love note likely never sent to the intended beau. Written on one collaged sheet of pink paper is the central theme to the work:

Written on a blank leaf in a Lady's Scrap Book --

There is one leaf reserved for me / From all thy dear memorials free / And here my simple song might tell / The feelings thou must guess so well / But could I thus within thy mind / One little vacant corner find / Where no impression yet is seen / Where no memorial yet hath been / Oh! it should be my sweetest care / To write my name for ever there.