Prudence Wells's (Shelburne, MA) Lovely Early 19th Century Penmanship Notebook hanging relief carving and sort of a whitewash

and sort of a whitewash stain over the wood

based on looking at other examples

Frame is especially lovely

And one can imagine a courtesan of the day holding this in her hand

The fourth appears perhaps to have been a first stab at what became the third (letter C)--with no labels

Prudence Wells's (Shelburne, MA) Lovely Early 19th Century Penmanship Notebook hanging relief carving and sort of a whitewashI 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