1840s Scrapbook

This very early example of a poetry scrapbook is especially notable for its physical construction.  The paper was originally used for penmanship practice and has been cut down, hand-sewn inside a recycled cover, and consecutively paginated.  Marked “Anna L. Hange 1840” inside the back cover, this collection also features an alphabetized table of contents inside the front cover—a holdover from the indexical organization that structured commonplace books from earlier periods.  Like Walt Whitman’s 1856 edition of Leaves of Grass, this is a small, pocket-sized book made for easy transport.