1840s Boxed German Album Amicorum with Many Lovelies portrait of boy and dog Michael at right

Michael at right

In wooden crate with jointed corners and smart looking American Crayon Company paper label: Freart for Free Expression Work--a phrase which itself feels like a timely mandate

Everything is in terrific shape with the exception of one broken piece (a straight stick

and features a design of three cranes on top rendered in gold

and actually quite holy feeling

1840s Boxed German Album Amicorum with Many Lovelies portrait of boy and dog Michael at rightI only recently learned about album amicorum (Latin for "book of friends") or liber amicorum, a European manuscript tradition, beginning in the 16ht century, where individualsoften students, scholars, or aristocratscollected signatures, poems, illustrations, and in this case embroideries, from friends, colleagues, and notable figures. A sort of precursor to the Victorian autograph album, but these were comprised of loose pieces, collected over time,