Flowers (manuscript essay in Class of 1883 prize ribbon binding)

10 loose leaves of ruled laid paper, 8.5 x 5.5 inches, bound with a silk ribbon stamped in gilt "Class of 1883" and “Labor omnia vincit” (labor conquers all). Blank cover leaf; 10 pages of manuscript text: 8 recto-only, penultimate leaf written on both sides. Foxing to the outer leaves and the ribbon, which is fragile and fraying at the pressure point. Gilt is bright and crisp, a very attractive example. Neither the author nor the school are identified, but it comes from Massachusetts. 

A rather sensitive essay that ties botanical tidbits with what feels like a genuine sense of wonder at nature. “Flowers take no thought or care for the future, but live, day by day, arrayed in the most beautiful colors…Their beauty has not come through care or labor. There is no effort in the unfolding of the flower. They toil not.” Very legible, especially lovely.