The front cover of this beautiful book is made of papier-mache and has been inlaid with mother-of-pearl, painted and gilded whereas the back is unadorned. The colours of the floral spray are still bright and vibrant, especially where the painting is done over two pieces of mother-of-pearl which gives an iridescence to the leaves. It is in remarkably good condition with only the loss of some of the gilding and the pile from the velvet spine covering. It belonged to a Miss Annie Craven and contains stories, poems, good wishes and witty epigrams from her parents, friends, relatives and, perhaps a beau or two. The ink has faded in some of the writings, but others remain as vivid as when they were written in the late 1870's and early 1880's. Some of the copperplate script is superb. Whilst the book is English, Miss Craven may have lived in Bendigo in Victoria, Australia as there are mentions of Bendigo street names and of Eaglehawk, now a suburb of Bendigo, but in the mid 1850's, a rich alluvial goldfield. There is a companion piece to this book, which is a leather cover for a notebook, with the unused notebook and pockets for stamps etc. It has, embossed in gold, on the front A.W.C, for miss Annie Craven(see SKU 1380).