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Cut Paper Silhouette Album

One pencil inscription next to a pressed leaf reads: "Leaf from the Fatal Oak [?] Mrs. Bray's Novel of Warleigh The Oak wands close to the Wall of the Church Yard of Tamerton Foliot Devon". The novel above is an 1834 historical romance by Anna Eliza Bray called "Warleigh; or, The fatal oak"

England: c.1856. A remarkable collection of small cut paper silhouettes made by a single (most likely female) creator around 1856. In total there are approx. thirty-nine (39) cut paper silhouettes, interleaved with approx. 3-4 examples of pressed flowers and moss specimens labeled in pencil (including one labeled "from the Crimea"). What sets this collection apart is largely precision and skill, but also a charming sense of humor, such as in one silhouette that depicts a bull chasing a man up a tree. There are smaller incision and pinpricks on some of the silhouettes to create texture and movement. Animals are included throughout, including a procession of animals marching aboard Noah's Ark. One cut silhouette is very complex indeed, and reads "Mary Morgan[?]" through vines and ivy. All mounted on approx. 75 leaves of pink and white laid paper bound in original roan binding (3.75" by 6.5") with brass clasp. Good. Binding worn with spine lacking, may be missing a couple of the original pressed flowers. Minor points of damage to the cutwork silhouettes.

Price: $3,200.00

Item #24010582