A Scrapbook (or Commonplace Book)

Dateca. 1830-1877 (see "Notes")

Artist/Maker Lewis Miller (1796-1882)

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania and Virginia

MediumVarious inks, graphite, and watercolor on various papers; marbleized paper-covered boards; leather spine and leather corners on cover boards; some texts and images are hand-drawn, others are press-printed

DimensionsOverall: 6 1/2 x 4 x 2 1/4in. (16.5 x 10.2 x 5.7cm) N. B. This overstuffed book is bulging and its original shape is distorted, so its dimensions are very irregular.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2002.301.1

DescriptionA 300-page bound book containing a handwritten account titled "Universal History of the World, Second Book" and used by Lewis Miller as a scrapbook to create, as noted on the spine, "Poetry/L. Miller/1830/York." The book consists of newspaper clippings of poetry pasted to the pages, supplemented with transcribed poems, drawings, and illuminiated borders by Miller. There are forty-three drawings consisting of seven large floral drawings, eleven small floral drawings, two small animal drawings, eight drawings with an allegorical theme, one travel sketch, seven small drawings of miscellaneous subjects, three large historical drawings, two illustrated poems, one Fraktur bookplate, and one small historical drawing.
Label TextLewis Miller (1792-1882) created most, if not all, of the original sketches in this book, and he seems to have added most, if not all, of the glued-in printed matter, both texts and imagery; in many cases, these additions were glued over pages that had already been used, i.e., pages on which an unidentified person (Miller? the handwriting needs to be checked aginst his) had, earlier, written texts in script in brown ink. (These initial texts are not fully visible but appear to be a history of the world.)
InscribedHand written in ink on the leather spine is "Poetry/L. Miller/1830/York". There are numerous additional inscriptions, but no other transcriptions have been made as of this cataloguing.
ProvenanceFrom artist/compiler Lewis Miller to his great-niece, Mrs. William F. Figgatt (née Matilda Mary Edie, 1836-?); to her daughter, Mrs. Rosseau (née Eva Sue Figgatt); to her son, Charles B. Rosseau; to his wife, Mrs. Charles Rosseau ("Ollie") of Richmond, Va.; to her daughter, Mrs. Townsend (née Kathryn Rosseau) of Richmond, Va.; to her three daughters, Sally T. Rosseau Poarch, Judith Rosseau Rocchiccioli, and Barbara Rosseau Towell. (The last named died in 2001, leaving her portion to her husband, John E. Towell). Sally Poarch, Judith Rocchiccioli, and John Towell sold the book to CWF.