1840s ledger repurposed as scrapbook of serial romances published in 'The Courier-Journal' ca. 1880s

Tall half leather with plain paper covered boards; 4to, 12 x 7.5 inches. 48 leaves with clippings pasted on both sides; numerous leaves clipped throughout to accommodate the bulk with leftover stubs. Occasional small wormholes and tears to the clipping. Originally used as a ledger (the date 1844 peeks through on one page), the pages were used to compile serialized stories published in the Louisville, KY Courier-Journal: "In the Dark; or, After Clouds—Sunshine." by H. N. Adair (1883) ; and two stories published in 1881 under the pseudonym "Daisy Deane," the name of a popular Civil War ditty: "Our Pearl" and "Fairest Among Women" (1881).

Charmingly composed, snippets of the stories have been added in pencil where there were gaps (presumably where text was printed on both sides). A newsclipping about Samuel Clemens written by Sarah K. Bolton (1887) is the only item laid-in. The weekly Courier-Journal described itself in an 1876 ad as "not a mere hasty hotch-potch thrown together from the daily edition, but a complete, able, spicy family newspaper..."

Since the Adair story is the first pasted into the book, but was published later than "Fairest Among Women," it would seem our compiler had already been safekeeping the others. The stories are laden with passion and the kind of writing that was readily ridiculed as trashy and a sure sign of moral decay in society: "The color flamed over her fair face, and her brown eyes were soft and dewy under their long lashes, but there was mischief lurking in the dimples about her proud, sweet mouth." Plenty of love, angst, awkward romance, society drama, and passages to elicit a laugh (and maybe a blush).