Nineteenth-century British scrapbook of theatrical, historical, royal, and artistic content

This British nineteenth-century scrapbook of theatrical, historical, royal, and artistic content features images created from multiple printing processes, predominantly monochromatic engravings, though the album also includes original artwork, elaborately printed Victorian-era greeting cards, and other color illustrations. Collected images include Italian, French, and primarily British landmarks, abbeys, cathedrals, historic landscapes, and British monarchs and nobility. This scrapbook also contains numerous theatrical images of Shakespearean actors, apparently cut from Tallis's Dramatic Magazine, and General Theatrical and Musical Review. The date span for this album ranges from 1846-1890s, based on the inclusion of eight chapter illustrations by Phiz from Charles Dickens's Dombey and Son , which was serialized between 1846-1848, and a portrait of a mature Edward, Prince of Wales.

Among the locations depicted in engravings are Liverpool, Weston-super-Mare, Tower of London, Oxford, and Port Marseilles. There are numerous original watercolors and sketches of flowers, shells, and rural scenes throughout the album, as well as greeting cards, Victorian art prints, and a few trade cards. There is an advertisement for Chadwick's Super Six Cord, an image from an advertisement for Kingsford's Oswego prepared corn (T. Kingston & Son, Oswego), a trade card for G. Nicholson & Sons collars from Bradford, York, and small cards with songs, such as "Cushlamachree," an Irish ballad printed by Rock & Co., London. There are several small color portraits of fashionable ladies. One of these bears the name of the Robinsons, Bristol, likely indicating the printing company, E. S. & A. Robinson. Another large color image printed by Robinson is titled "The Colonist's Dream," depicting a pioneer dreaming of a reunion with his family.

There is a large selection of Shakespearean actors, apparently cut from Tallis's Dramatic Magazine, and General Theatrical and Musical Review. Among the actors and actresses depicted in Shakespearean roles are Miss Vandenhoff as Juliet, Mr. T. Mead as Iachimo, Mr. Barry Sullivan as Hamlet, Mr. Macready as Macbeth, Hamlet, and Brutus, and many others. Among the many other images are two small photographic prints of actresses, one of Ethel Thorton, an American actress of the 1870s, and another actress, Molly (last name obscured).

The scrapbook album, with detached plain faux-grained cloth covers, is lined with red velvet on the interior boards. A few loose pages are housed in a folder with the album.