The Bride s Gift Book, Meriden, Connecticut, ca. 1915

[Unk.]

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[Meriden, Connecticut, 1915]. [39] manuscript pages. 7¼ x 9 inches. Full pigskin with rounded corners, blind rules and gilt title on upper cover; moire endpapers; all edge gilt. Partly printed; ruled leaves with 12 entry lines per two-page spread. Rubbing to head and tail and along edges and tips; very good. A detailed World War I-era wedding gift ledger, documenting over 230 individual gifts received by a Meriden, Connecticut bride and groom. The couple was married on June 14, 2015, and the manuscript entries document the material culture of an upper-middle-class New England wedding, with gifts ranging from commercially produced luxury goods to handmade and practical items. Entries include a Tiffany & Co. flower bowl and silver fruit dish; a pie server described as "of family silver belonging to her mother"; twelve service plates; a mahogany boudoir lamp; Martha Washington work table; sherbet glasses; cream ladle; whiskey set; lemon fork; silver mayonnaise bowl; crocheted centre-piece; and a lavender silk bag. Several items gesture toward decorative refinement, such as a Venetian vase, a silver cake basket and vase, mahogany candlesticks, boudoir candles, and a framed W.L. Taylor print (" If Music be thy feast of Love Play On. "). Others serve more practical or personal roles: a mirror, claret jug, cheese scoop, hourglass, Family Bible, and book titled Through Grand Canyon. Some gifts are noted with dry humor e.g., a doormat "(under protest)." The ledger also records the names and places of origin of attendees, offering a geographic snapshot of the wedding s social network. Guests hailed from over fifty locations, including New York City and State, Boston, Montreal, Savannah, Cleveland, Santa Barbara, and Washington Barracks (D.C.), alongside numerous Connecticut towns, including New Britain, Saybrook, Willimantic, Washington, Windsor and Naugatuck. The Bride s Gift Book identifies all of the bridesmaids and ushers but, notably, omits the names of the bride and groom. Several members of the wedding party attended Wykeham Rise School for Girls in Washington, Connecticut, possibly the bride as well. Recurring surnames such as Gildersleeve, Brainerd, and Hall suggest extended family or close social ties. Attendees include architect Franklin Nelson Breed and Commissary General Mathewson W. Potter, with the names of other notables yet to be identified. A useful artifact of upper-middle-class wedding culture in 1915 New England direct evidence for studying the material life and social patterns of the period. Seller Inventory # 3735232

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Bride s Gift Book, Meriden, Connecticut,...
Binding: Hardcover