Emma’s album again

At Market Lavington Museum, we have this unprepossessing album.

Well, a very close look does show that its page edges were gilded. This book’s local provenance rests on the fact that it was found in the stables of the house on Parsonage Lane, now known as The Racquets Court. Our previous blog, Emma’s Album gives much more information about this book, which dates from the 1830s and shows some of its content. We will now look at more of the pages inside.

It contains many hand written poems and pictures on its colourful pages, though some of the writing is faded and hard to read, but it provides a fascinating insight into the pastimes and customs of almost two hundred years ago.

The subject matter of the poems copied into the album is sentimental and sometimes melancholy and includes such titles as ‘ The Baptized Flower’, ‘To My Love’ and ‘The Wreck’.

One of the full page poems is called ‘The Love Rose’.

The writing on this page is clearer than on others, so we will take a closer look at the first verse.

‘I’ll call for thee a flow’ry wreath,

And twine it with thine hair.

Or weave a garland sunny bright,

To deck thy brow so fair.

The bee-sipped blossoms sweetly glow

When clad with morning dew;

But from thy blushing face they’ll gain

Quicker, brighter hue.

Below the last verse there is a signature, Charles R and the date 10th April 1837.

Some of the album’s pages are plain. Others have small embossed frames, suitable for surrounding little verses or pictures stuck in by the owner.

We will look at some more pages from this album on another occasion.

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