Historical information

This book belonged to Emily Gascoigne Stratford. She married Barnard Mathews in Victoria in 1856 and the births of seven children are recorded in Victoria. Carshalton (the home of the aunt who gave the book?) is a town in Surrey, England. So far no connection has been found between the Mathews family and Warrnambool.

Significance

This book has no known local provenance but it is of interest for its antiquarian value.

Physical description

This is a hard cover book of 381 pages. It has a brown cover with embossed ornamentation and gold lettering on the spine. The front cover is partly detached from the binding and the pages are gilt-edged. There is a black and white illustration on the second page. The cover is very faded and stained and there is some staining throughout the pages. The inscription is handwritten in black ink.

Inscriptions & markings

‘Mifs Emily Gazoigne Stratford, From her Aunt, F.S. Stratford, Carshalton, Augst. 1850’.