THE SEA BOUND ISLE MOUNT DESERT - MAINE - PICTURE ALBUM 1890's - RARE

Description

We are offering a "
The Sea Bound Isle Mount Desert" -
Maine Picture Album -
RARE
.  1890's.  10" x 12".  The 6 pictures in the album and the front & back cover are bound together with new leather string that was used to replace the original cord.
Mount Desert Island is the largest island off the coast of Maine.
The island was originally named by French explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1604.
Because of the bare and rocky mountains on the island, he named the island, "
Isles des Monts Desert"
(Isle of Mount Desert)
.
After British conquest, the French name was dropped and the island was called Mount Desert Island.
Each page of the album has a 5" x 7" picture of different parts of Mount Desert Island.
The pictures appear to be from original paintings that had been transferred onto 5" x 7" boards that were then mounted on the cardboard pages of the album.
Each picture has a "frame" around it resembling tree branches.  Each picture is identified at the bottom of the page, with the letters also appearing like tree branches, and the title on the front cover is made to look the same way.
We believe the method used to accomplish this was molded plaster that was then silver-gilded to look like a tree branch, with each molded piece being meticulously glued onto the album page.  The "frames" around the pictures and all the lettering is in high relief (raised up from the page).
In the mid to late 19th century, American artists played a huge role in the promotion of summer tourism to scenic rural parts of the northeast as an escape from the cities.  Their paintings inspired people to flock to Mount Desert Island.  In the late 1800's prominent people such as the Rockefellers, Morgans, Fords, Vanderbilts, Carnegies and Astors spent their summers there.
This piece could have been a one-of-a-kind artist's creation, or something used as enticement to come to the island, or as a souvenir for the tourists.
CONDITION:
The covers show some soiling.
Five of the pictures have protective tissue paper over them, that has preserved their original state.
The first picture, "Great Head", did not have tissue over it, and so the title on the front cover has bled through to it, and also, there are a couple of small pieces of the "frame" that have come off.
**All in all, a unique and interesting piece of art**