Wonderful (and Long!) 1840 Letter from Elias A Brown To "My Dear Wife," with Beautiful Cross Writing Victorian era The more time I spend

The more time I spend with it the more I really like

With a curious hard right edge to the oval

and if so my guess is painted toward the tail end of Belgian occupation (1950s) or just after-- the inclusion of armed soldiers in black at left provides no definitive clue

rich color

and the form of the vessel with a great pear-like shape

Wonderful (and Long!) 1840 Letter from Elias A Brown To "My Dear Wife," with Beautiful Cross Writing Victorian era The more time I spendI have for a long time wanted to turn up a good example of cross writing, shown here on the first page of this letter, brilliantly (and beautifully!) used in the early mid 19th century as a way of conserving space and paper. I just love to look at it! But happily this is a pretty wonderful and notable letter, too, written from Elias A Brown to his dear wife Louisa Anna (Cady) Brown in Minaville, Montgomery County, NY, 1840. There is a good bit about