Souvenir olive wood album containing flowers and views from the Holy Land

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Overview

Souvenir olive wood album containing flowers and views from the Holy Land sent by Harry to his wife as a gift for her birthday.
It comprises two rectangular pieces of varnished timber joined at the spine with fabric, with the pages held between.
The front cover features a middle eastern scene, with the Citadel on the right hand side and the silhouettes of a herder with two goats on the left. The hills behind are painted in a brown colour, with green for the vegetation surrounding the Citadel. The words 'Flowers from the Holy Land' are printed across the top in black and 'The Citadel' below.
Harry has written a greeting to his wife in black ink on the inside cover. The page opposite has the title in three different languages - Hebrew, English and French.
The inside leaves have a view from the Holy Land on the left hand side and a dried floral arrangement on the right.
The back timber cover has the word 'Jerusalem' printed in black with decorative swirls below.

Historical information

The identity of Harry is unknown, but it is likely he was a soldier based in Jerusalem during one of the world wars.
Visiting servicemen and women purchased a variety of souvenirs from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Palestine and The Holy Land while passing through on active service during both world wars.
Some of the more common items were embroideries such as cushion covers, painted artworks on fabric, jewellery made from mother of pearl, metal and timber, and photo albums with wooden covers filled with postcards of local scenes and pressed dried flowers.
There was also a range of trinket boxes, often with hidden drawers, made from the local olive wood and a range of other olive wood items including napkin rings and even a portable book shelf.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00786

Item type

Themes

Material

Book Cloth (Textile Material)

Width

180 mm

Height or length

115 mm

Depth

15 mm

Inscriptions and markings

On front cover:

"Flowers from the Holy Land"
"THE CITADEL"

On inside cover:

"To my Wife,
Fresh flowers I often gave to you,
A symbol of love forever new.
And though not fresh, these still will be,
Flowers, with love, to you from me.
Wishing you many happy returns
of your birthday. From your husband,
Harry"

On title page:

"פרחים ותמונות מארץ הקדושה"
"FLOWERS AND VIEWS OF THE HOLY LAND"
"FLEURS ET VUES DE LA TERRE SAINTE."

On the back cover:

"Jerusalem"

Keywords

Place made