By Jude Ramm, Library and Digital Assistant

For day 6 of our Advent Calendar, we’ll turn the Christmas spirit up to eleven with our Victorian Scrapbook.

This incredibly beautiful scrapbook was donated to the Art Library in the 1990s. It’s packed full of a variety of Christmas cards, scraps, and cut-outs from the Victorian era – it’s a visual feast for any fan of illustration and typography. I think you’ll agree this is the scrapbook that scrap-bookers dream of: you can read more about this fascinating item elsewhere on the Secret Library Leeds.

Although we don’t have much information about the scrapbook’s origins, messages in the book are addressed to an Ethel Mills and her family. We think Ethel may have created the scrapbook during the 19^th century. Come and see the scrapbook in the Art Library – just ask staff for access; we keep the scrapbook under glass as the pages are brittle with age.

Check back tomorrow for day 7.