Among my very favorite finds EVER--these are, for me, pure and total joy, every page a delight, and many laugh out loud funny. Both are the work of a young Bella Park (what a name!), late-ish 19th century I believe. These are tiny, about 2" x 2", which makes them feel all the more miraculous. The first (left in first photo) features marvelous black and purple ink drawings throughout--described on the inside of the cover as "mostly fancy dances," and indeed we get the "highland fling" and butterfly dance" and "rope dance" and "George Washington dance" and more, but then on to rich brides and poor brides and women once poor turned rich and others who don't know how to dress and depictions of country work vs. city play and on and on and on. My goodness our Bella had a lively mind--and a very lively and expressive hand! In the second we get a bit about school (a schedule, a list of all her teachers, and the names of a few nasty girls as well as friends), and then a series of watercolors of men and woman of many sorts. My photos document every page for posterity, as there are certainly no others quite like these out there in the world. AMAZING and wonderful.
Each measures approx 2 1/16" x 2". Both full, on both sides of pages. All pages pictured - a few favorites first, then each book page by page. Both in very good condition, some light foxing/toning to the pages of the first, more pronounced in (magnified) photos than in hand; both overall in very good condition. Sold as a pair.
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