I was sold on this old ledger before I even opened it; just a beautiful object in and of itself, with the well worn mark of James Brown, "Bookseller and Stationer, Facing the Seminary, Montreal" at the center of the front cover, and a sweet cloth mend on the binding. Then on the inside of the front cover is written the name of its owner, Joshua P. Hammond, 1811, with a few different notes as to his location at various years, including that he "left Caldwell Manor for Henchin Brook" in 1823. The entries inside seem to span from 1811 to 1829 or so, and track sales and purchases of many things, most frequently including sales of hats and bonnets of various sorts (I believe he was a hatmaker), and purchases of lambskins, and wool, but also wood, meat, butter, hay, plates, tobacco, brandy, etc. One comes across many old ledgers, but this I think is an especially good one, both lovely and chock full.
7 7/8" t x 6 5/8" w x 1 3/8". I haven't counted the pages but a few hundred for sure. Nice heavy laid paper with paper in very good condition and writing very clear. The cloth repair on cover/binding has held and is holding the front cover to the spine fine, though the cover is loose where there is no mend (lower third.) The spine/binding is is otherwise in good condition, holding all the pages tightly together.
