Eclectic nineteenth-century British scrapbook

This eclectically compiled nineteenth-century British scrapbook features collectible scraps of flowers, animals, children, birds, and work scenes; greeting cards; original ink, graphite, and watercolor artwork; material related to British royalty; scenes of famous British places and buildings; and numerous images from varied sources. Several items depict "exotic ethnics," such as a black woman, an "Indian," "Orientals," and "Arabs." Not all of the 36 leaves in this album are filled: the first 23 are filled, perhaps by a young woman or teenage girl; the last two leaves are filled with five color printed images of British trains cut from Boys Own Paper, suggesting perhaps a brother or son is responsible for those images in the album.

The leaves of this scrapbook are filled (on one side only) in a completely original order with variously sized images occupying nearly every space on the page. This is not like many Victorian scrapbooks, which were neatly composed with carefully balanced placement of images in geometric symmetry on each page. The varied images in this scrapbook were created using multiple printing and coloring processes and are drawn from diverse sources. There are several items of original drawings and paintings in ink, graphite, and watercolor, one of which is entitled "Camel & Gypsy Muballa (?) 1875 B.H."

The scrapbook opens with an 1887 full-page photographic print of the British royal family tree, "in memory of the 50th anniversary of the accession of her Majesty Queen Victoria." Other landscapes and buildings include the Crystal Palace, Sydenham; Albert National Memoria; the House Guards by J T Wood; and Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva.

There is one strip of the "Sleeping Beauty" tale, designed by Raphael Tuck & Sons, London, and printed in Germany (leaf 23), and there is a color printed George Cruikshank illustration (leaf 14).

There is one printed-on-silk program from February 21, 1865, for the performance at the Theatre Royal, Doncaster, by the "Gentleman Niggers" in aid of funds of "the Rifle Volunteers under the patronage of the Mayor, Capt. Sturrock, Capt. Egremont, and the Officers of the Corps." The two-part program, apparently a minstrel show, included ballads and comic songs, a "banjo echo," and closed with "The Plantation Dance." The fringed silk program was printed by Pawson and Brailsford, Printers, Sheffield.