1888: “A Bunch of Roses: Poems by Prominent Authors” by Susie Barstow Skelding

As shown. See all photos. Inscribed “Mrs. A.H. Keith from her loving niece Martha. Aug. 24. 1889.” It doesn’t look like an “H,” but I have to surmise. I’m also not positive who Martha is offhand. But Mrs. Keith in this case is Eleanor Ann Delany Keith (1876–1960), my mother’s mother’s mother.

8.5” x 9.5”

“Susie Barstow Skelding (1857–1934), was an American illustrator who produced several popular series of books in which her illustrations were paired with poetry by well-known authors. The daughter of Ann Marie Barstow and James Augustus Skelding; the niece of the landscape painter Susie M. Barstow. She was a member of the Brooklyn Art Club. In the 1880s, she produced several series of books in which her full-color illustrations of flowers accompanied her selections of poetry by various authors, including John Greenleaf Whittier, Julia Ward Howe, Alice Wellington Rollins, Helen Hunt Jackson, Celia Thaxter, James G. Percival, William Dean Howells, Mary Mapes Dodge, and Elaine Goodale.”