Oakland, CA: 1879-1885. Publisher's cloth ornately stamped in gilt and color, measuring 8.5 x 7 inches and containing three preserved botanical specimens (one laid in loosely at front) and twenty five pages of manuscript with occasional hand-drawn artwork. While the majority of entries are marked from Oakland, Napa, Calistoga, South Butte, San Francisco and other locations within California, there are notably also examples from New York, Pennsylvania, and even Hong Kong. The commonplace book of Lillie A. Holmes shows how far ranging friendships could form as travel become more accessible to women; and it reveals how marriage shaped women's lives and the distances placed between themselves, their friends and family.

Gifted the album by her mother, according to an undated early entry, Lillie A. Holmes appeared to take maternal wishes to heart. "May every page of this fair book on its smooth surface bear some kindly wish...each autograph the signet be of some true-hearted friend, the memory of whose genial soul will ever sunshine lend." Beginning in 1879 with its first entry from Hong Kong, Lillie makes friendships and provides a space for those people to leave some part of themselves with her. "Forget me not in moments sweet..When joy and mirth in union meet," A. Ferguson writes to her from China. Though some of the contributors write more vaguely ("Remember your sincere friend," Louise Winslow of Oakland writes in 1884, adding "Gang Way here!") others give us a glimpse into private jokes and close friendships (though he begins in 1882 "With Kind Regard, Clark S. Dowe" this fellow Oaklander also includes a drawing of a lily as well as a note: "Virginia Reel. PS. Large class, nine ladies and four gentlemen. Yum").

Most often, the entries in Lillie's book provide a sense of community. A number of pages are marked with a location and date ("Angel Island April 13th 1881," for example, or "Red Hood Canon July 4, 1885") and those who were present sign their names and places of origin within an art piece ("Glad of it. Lill" one includes). These give a sense of young people and families traveling together, gathering and enjoying each other's company for a short reunion. In the center of the book, we get some sense of why or how so many of the friends long for re-gathering. For here, we see Lillie documenting the number of marriages of her friends. Louise Winslow marries H. Bradbury in Oakland in 1885; Jessie Walker weds William Macbeth in Brooklyn in 1883; Bertha ---- was married to Albert Flick in Lansing, Iowa in 1883. The list goes on and shows friendships being stretched by geographic demands.

A special piece which speaks to the bonds formed among men and women in their youths, and the efforts to maintain those over time. (Item #5453)