Recently read: The Marvelous Album of Madame B

This delightful book, subtitled Being the Handiwork of a Victorian Lady of Considerable Talent, is a recreation, with commentary by Elizabeth Siegel and captions by Martha Packer, of a scrapbook created circa 1870. The Victorian Lady who created the album used formal portraits and photographs which she then decorated with such things as blossoms, branches, garlands, elaborate drawings, paintings, etc, all done by hand. Madame B is thought to be Blanche Fournier, whose husband was a French career diplomat. During the period of the album, they lived in Sweden. Many of the people in the photos have been identified as other diplomats and their families, the Fourniers themselves, and members of the Royal Family of Sweden. Besides being fun to look at, it is inspiring to look into the pages of an early mixed media artist.