Chromolithograph Scrapbook & Papers

Height: 15 inches. This lot comprises two Victorian-era scrapbooks and two loose chromolithograph prints. The first scrapbook features a red cloth binding with gold-embossed floral and geometric designs. A central cartouche on the front cover contains the embossed gold text SCRAP BOOK. The interior consists of heavy brown paper pages mounted with various late 19th-century ephemera, including greeting cards and commercial trade cards. Legible text on these items includes Cross-Cut Cigarettes W. Duke Sons and Co. DURHAM, N.C. and NEW YORK, Old Turk Cigars, Fedora Extract Dr. WM. GOEHRIG and SON, and The Golden Eagle Dry Goods, Millinery and Carpet House H. S. and H. N. GOLDENBERG. The imagery includes floral motifs, Victorian children, anthropomorphic cats, and owls. The second scrapbook is bound in cream-colored cloth with an elaborate chromolithographed and embossed cover depicting a peacock, hummingbirds, and roses within a decorative border. The contents are similar in style to the first volume, containing Victorian-era trade cards and die-cut scraps. One loose trade card is printed with the text WHY CAPEN PIANOS ARE POPULAR. The loose ephemera includes a large chromolithograph of a peacock with tail feathers displayed, printed on white cardstock and housed in a plastic sleeve, and a large die-cut depicting a child resting in a basket of blue flowers.