Love's Offering [Friendship Album]

Philadelphia: Moss & Brother, [1855]. Embossed red leather with gilt title and floral designs on spine; gilt edges; two-tone paper with blue recto and cream verso, plates A well-loved but very good copy with edgewear especially to corners; gold stamping still quite bright; first signature starting; foxing on title page and on plates; spotting on several pages; some signatures slightly faded but others as vivid as if they had been written yesterday. Hardcover.

A one-of-a-kind friendship album belonging to Isaiah Leiden, circa 1855, of Freeland Seminary (a Mennonite-adjacent institution in Pennsylvania, now Ursinus College). "Freeland Seminary, located near Collegeville, Pennsylvania, 27 miles northwest of Philadelphia, was established in 1848 by Abraham Hunsicker (1793-1872), who had been ordained as a minister of the Skippack Mennonite Church in January 1847." (-Wikipedia). Features beautiful penmanship and calligraphic flourishes, as well as intricate plates showing "love's offerings" of the time. Anyone interested in 1850s friendship conventions, handwriting, religious communities, engravings, or book design will be rewarded by spending time with this unique document. Plates by S.H. Gimber, J. Cochran, J.C Armytage, H.S. Sadd. Contains a news clipping about Bishop Hunsicker // friendship album, autograph album, mennonite community, Pennsylvania, ephemera, Philadelphia history