Pryke Family of Girls.

[Women & Girls]. This book is filled with folly/ In foolish sketch and rhyme,/ Comes to wish our Collie/ Joy till the end of time.

Great Britain, ca. 1930. Item #1207

8vo. 230 x 180 mm., [9 x 7 ¼ inches]. 70 pp. poems & lyrics. Illustrated with 35 original drawings, 9 of which are in full color. Album bound in red cloth spine over red boards, with the drawing in black in of a Bride & Groom set within a frame of tall leafy trees.

The opening dialogue sets the tone for the entire album, the story of loving family wishing there daughter and sister a very happy wedding day. The text of “A Dialogue on an Important Subject, Between Two Members of the Pryke Family” reads in part:

Joan. Mummy, what is this I hear?

M. Collie’s to be married, dear!

J. Goodness gracious merry me!

When is the Event to be?

M. On the tenth of August, Joan.

She and he will be made one

J. What’s fellow want her for?

M. To darn his socks and scrub the floor;

And Dust the room, and make the bed,

And see that his is amply fed.

Thus the album of a loving family begins with this coming of age poem, with a colored drawing on the opposite page of Mother and three sisters, presenting the book set on a purple pillow being held by the youngest girl. This is followed by a series of 34 other poems, all by family members, celebrating Collie, the family, and some poems of pure whimsy and folly. Each is illustrated with a pen & ink drawing rendered in pure amateur fashion, fit for the nature of the album.
One of the untitled poems signed by O. P., suggests that the family relished word games. The first few lines read;

When I was at kcowledge

It came to my nollege

That if could scrough

Out the time to go threw

With my uttermost fourse

A Very long corce

Of spelling . .

The page opposite shows a table with eight books, including a dictionary, a speller, a book with the title, “How to use a Vowel” and copy of “Principles of Etymology”.

A remarkable gift from Mother and sisters to the daughter getting married.

Price: $2,800.00