Album, circa 1850?

Scrapbook features prints clipped from various sources; several business cards from shops in London, Florence, and Chiavenna; and a small group of drawings by Mary and Baldwyn. The collection of prints is peculiar in its range of subjects: among portraits, picturesque scenes, and fine-art reproductions, there are several newspaper engravings that suggest especially lurid stories. The most notable include the beheading of a prisoner—an undated journal illustration, likely for a report on the First Opium War—and an image of two men fishing a body from a pond, published in The Morning Chronicle and The Observer in November 1823. The engraving illustrated an article reporting the sensational murder that year of William Weare, who was killed by a gambling acquaintance. The case gained notoriety for the gruesome circumstances surrounding his death.