I purchased this book probably twenty years ago at Saint Vincent de Paul when they put out their Valentine's Day collectables.
I have had it all this time and just noticed...
the inscription inside the front cover. It reads
23/12.02
To Miss Tilley May Nelson
with Xmas Greeting
From I. Norton
Inside is this visiting card. One edge, the edge reading "Ever Your Friend" is glued in place, lift the other edge and on the bottom paper is "Geo. I. Norton" printed with a very fancy script.
Even though it was given at Christmas as a Christmas gift it will stay as a Valentine, a token of love.
I have scanned the entire little book, it is in a sad state, the paper is very aged from the acid in the paper and is somewhat brittle; the pages have come away from the cover; the cover is water stained. It is still a lovely book with an interesting past.
Written in fountain pen at the top of the page is...
Maple leaves from Queenston Heights
Niagara Peninsula
Ontario
Across the bottom of this last page is printed...
London Ernest Lister Printed in Bavaria 798 New York E. P. Dutton & Co.
I wonder if this was a prelude to a long marriage; I believe it was because this little book was bought about ninety or so years later in Victoria, British Columbia.
This may not be a Valentine's Day token as I had believed it was but it is part of a love story worthy of Saint Valentine.
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