Souvenir. Semainier.

Paris, 1835 . Mother-of-pearl. Silk spine. . Very Good. A beautiful, highly decorative, diminutive early nineteenth century day planner notebook. 84 by 52 mm. 12 leaves, four of which are stiff card, pages of which, following the title, are devoted to a day of the week. Appended in the back is a fold-out calendar, with saints days, four small copper engraved images lining the top showing gentile men and women promenading, and copper engraved border decoration. This calendar is dated 1836, and thus our dating of 1835. It is possible, albeit unlikely, that this calendar was a later addition. The ambiguity derives from a penciled note giving a date of 1816. It is far from clear, though, that this 1816 written in refers to the date of inscription. Regardless, this notebook is bound to be most appreciated as a decorative object, with its stunning white mother-of-pearl boards, set off with contrasting abalone iridescent bands, one a rectangular border, the other, a thinner diamond shaped within, and accent dots, with a simple matching border on the other board. Condition: missing the original pen which was used to also seal the notebook by inserting it through the silk loops, which do survive. The spine silk is in somewhat degraded, or rough, condition. Silk moire endpapers have a slight amount of grubbiness. Some pencil notes of your on papers -- we would regard this as neutral or a plus. Minor age toning to the pages.