Illustrated ballads & poems, 1858 : manuscript signed with a monogram.

Illustrated manuscript album contains twelve poems copied out by Frederica St. John Orlebar (née Frederica St. John Rouse Boughton) of Larden Hall, Shipton, in Shropshire, and extensively illustrated by her in pen and ink; dedicated on the title page to her aunt, the botanical artist and author Frances ("Fanny") Stackhouse Acton, of Acton Scott, and dated Christmas 1858; executed on card weight album leaves, with a preliminary illustrated title page and dedication page, and an illustrated contents leaf featuring a troop of six children bearing six flags inscribed with the titles of the twelve poems which follow on 29 pages of verse within illustrated borders. The unattributed texts include verses drawn from six poems by Felicia Hemans, and two each from Sir Walter Scott and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, along with verses from traditional ballads and popular rhymes. The subjects treated by Orlebar's drawings are largely in keeping with the chosen texts, including a view of Roslyn Chapel ablaze, a sea cave, children drowned and buried, a fox hunt, the elfin king underground, fairies riding unicorns and dancing, Dunfermline Abbey, moody shorelines, angels, and children at play.