VICTORIAN SCRAPBOOK OF A BROOKLYN WOMAN

Charming scrapbook of 37 leaves filled with colorful chromolithographic images and some decorative trade cards. It was assembled by Esther Anderson (1871-1958) between 1885 and 1890 while her family was living in Brooklyn, New York, where her father, the Rev. Anders Johan Anderson, was a leader in the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church. Her location is reflected in the trade cards, such as Purssell, the Broadway baker; Max Stadler & Co., a clothier and hatter also located on Broadway; as well as Seidlitine Seidlitz Powders, which was manufactured by Dundas & Co. of New York City.

Anderson included decorative frames for each of the carefully arranged images of children, animals, fruit, flowers, religious symbols, and more. Her first name is spelled out on the first leaf in block letters. A graduate of Brooklyn’s Adelphi Academy and Northwestern University of Chicago, Anderson briefly taught high school before joining the Young Women’s Christian Association, which she served for three decades at a variety of posts from Detroit to New Zealand. After retiring, she ran a summer camp for girls in Connecticut. Although her last name does not appear in the scrapbook, it was acquired directly from the estate of her family, which supplied the record of ownership.

The scrapbook (8” x 9 ½”) is bound in full blue cloth, with decorative black, silver, and blind stamping, including a rendering of a parrot on the front panel. The contents are a bit toned. The pasted images, which have been glued down, are bright with a few showing some signs of light rubbing. The front hinge is cracked, but overall the scrapbook is quite sound. Item #73913

Price: $100.00