Prudence Wells's (Shelburne, MA) Lovely Early 19th Century Penmanship Notebook miniature beaver Super graphic and just gorgeous

Super graphic and just gorgeous

Under glass

the more amazed I am

intense face and wonderfully detailed long mane of hair

or something else entirely

Prudence Wells's (Shelburne, MA) Lovely Early 19th Century Penmanship Notebook miniature beaver Super graphic and just gorgeousI made a trip to my favorite antiquarian book seller in Maine this week and scooped up a few old paper things, this early penmanship notebook, the work of a Prudence Wells of Shelburne, Massachusetts among them. (And I believe I've placed her, born in 1799, in Shelburne, Franklin, MA, married to a Thomas Nims in 1825, and living until to the age of 90 in Greenfield, MA.) Based on that, and its content, I believe this notebook dates to the late 1810s