Victorian Scottish Tartanware Aide Memoire Pocket Notebook c. 1860–1880
Victorian Scottish Tartanware Aide Memoire Pocket Notebook c. 1860–1880
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An aide-mémoire was a notebook you carried on your person, the Victorian answer to writing something down before you forgot it. Addresses, observations, whatever the day produced. This one came home from Scotland.
The exterior carries a tartan pattern with a neoclassical figure to the cover, a nod to learning and memory that suited what the object was for. Inside are the original red silk-lined compartments and the paper pages, both of which usually go first. That they are still here is the reason this one is worth keeping.
Tartanware was the souvenir of Victorian Scotland. Highland romance had taken hold after Queen Victoria's own enthusiasm for it, the railways brought visitors north, and small personal objects came home covered in tartan by the thousand. Almost none of them were meant to last this long.
Fragile, incomplete, and more interesting for it. The pencil is long gone and the silk has torn. What is left is a paper and silk object that somehow got through a century and a half.
The interior silk lining shows staining, tears, and losses.
The souvenir booklet is loose and not secured to the binding, which is commonly seen on examples of this type.
The original pencil is missing.
The velvet binding is worn, and there are surface scratches and marks to the exterior.
All of this is visible in the photographs. This is a fragile nineteenth century personal object that has survived rather than a piece in collector-grade condition, and it should be handled and stored accordingly.
Shipping & Returns
All antique and vintage items are shipped from our warehouse in Bluffdale, Utah. Each piece is carefully packed by hand using archival materials and custom crating when necessary.
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Important Info About Antique & Vintage
Every antique and vintage item we carry has lived a life before arriving in your home. These are not factory-made products. They are objects with history, character, and the marks of time.
Age-appropriate wear, patina, minor imperfections, and signs of previous use or repair are inherent to antique and vintage items and are not considered defects. These characteristics are part of what makes each piece unique and are often what give it its beauty and value.
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