Prudence Wells's (Shelburne, MA) Lovely Early 19th Century Penmanship Notebook wwII Left: 6 1/4" t

Left: 6 1/4" t

and those mustached profiles do look rather French to me

I'd say--and good in all sorts of contexts

with its name referring to the fabled Fountain of Youth said to have been located in Florida

Prudence Wells's (Shelburne, MA) Lovely Early 19th Century Penmanship Notebook wwII Left: 6 1/4" tI made a trip to my favorite antiquarian book seller in Maine this week and scooped up a few old paper things, this early penmanship notebook, the work of a Prudence Wells of Shelburne, Massachusetts among them. (And I believe I've placed her, born in 1799, in Shelburne, Franklin, MA, married to a Thomas Nims in 1825, and living until to the age of 90 in Greenfield, MA.) Based on that, and its content, I believe this notebook dates to the late 1810s