Antique Victorian Scrap Album Christmas Tree Ernest Nister Scraps Herbarium Fern For Sale

A charming and authentic late Victorian pictorial scrap and botanical album, compiled circa 1880–1895.Album Details:
- Format: Quarto, bound in original textured maroon/plum cloth boards with blind-stamping and a central gilt title cartouche reading 'SCRAPS'.
- Dimensions: 27 cm x 21 cm.Key Highlights & Contents:
- Victorian Christmas & Greetings: Features a large, full-page embossed chromolithograph of a traditional Victorian Christmas tree decorated with candles, baubles, and ribbons inside the back cover.
- Publisher Imprints: Includes fine embossed novelty cards by renowned publisher Ernest Nister ('Printed by E. Nister at Nuremberg' / London).
- Hand Inscriptions: Touching period Christmas dedications in ink ('To my darling little Gladys, with fond love for a very happy Christmas, from her Dad', and 'Gladys & Frank').
- Herbarium / Pressed Botanicals: Multiple pages of genuine preserved ferns and leaves, neatly mounted with paper tabs and inscribed with historic English collecting locations including Bodiam Castle, Hastings, Bexhill-on-Sea, and Sandgate Cliff.
- Military & Topography: Fine die-cut scraps of Scottish Highland soldiers (Black Watch / Gordon Highlanders) in kilts and bearskin caps, alongside engraved coastal resort views of Torquay / Torbay.
- Embossed Scraps: Traditional 19th-century German/British relief scraps of pastoral children, playful cats and kittens climbing a ladder, dogs (including pug puppies around a bone), winter landscapes, and religious devotional cards. Includes several blank leaves towards the back.Condition:
Authentic antique condition. Outer cloth boards show age-related wear, sun-fading, corner bumping, and heavy fraying/splitting to the cloth along the spine. Interior card leaves show expected edge chipping, tanning, and scattered foxing, but all affixed scraps, botanical pressings, and novelty cards remain bright, well-preserved, and intact.