I am forever opening old books in hopes of finding drawings on the end papers--so a happy surprise to find this one, which I take for a drawing of a wooly mammoth. Perhaps it was a bit later that the graphite drawing was enhanced with ink, I'm not sure--but I really love the inked arrow at lower right, pointing out the snake wrapped around the tree! Perhaps that snake is signaling things to come, but in the meantime our mammoth seems a very serene creature, with crescent moon and stars shining overhead.
The book itself is Charles Henry Porter by E. Goodrich Smith, copyright 1849. Some nibbles to the top of a section of pages, but I'd be fairly inclined to separate the drawing from the book myself and frame it up.
Drawing - and book-measures 6 1/4" x 3 7/8". Plenty of wear to the book, including nibbled top edges to a section of pages--as documented--but drawing in good condition.
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