Watercolors of fashionable interiors in houses and hotels that look to be from the 1840s. From an album probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. The album being up for sale on the website of rare book dealer Justin Croft.

Untitled interior with woman reading by a fireside with the room looking to be the same as that in the watercolor titled “Caza Leoli, Pise,” Italy. ca. 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Caza Leoli – à Pise. Two men seated on chairs with a third standing in front of the fireplace in the same hotel parlor or suite as the first image, as the furnishings and wallpaper are identical, located in Pisa, Italy. ca. 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.

Salon au Quai du Midi (Nice?). ca. 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Un salon d’Hôtel – 1842. à Tours. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Eté 1842 Maison Viallon (La Mulatière, Lyon).  Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Eté 1844. Bagni di Lucca (Italy). Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Eté 1845. Viareggio (Italy). 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Salon. Chez le Prince Méncherski. 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Untiled watercolor of an interior. 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Untitled interior with a woman in a black dress reading by the fire. 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Maison de Roubion. 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Maison Gilly. 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.
Petersbourg – Caserne des Chevaliers Gardes. 1840s. Anglo-Irish. Watercolor that is part of an album that was probably kept by a female member of the  Coote family whose family seat was at Ballyfin, Leinster, Ireland. Image © 2023 Justin Croft. Fair use license. via https://www.justincroft.com/book/7779/coote-family/album/.

Live in the 18th century at least until you turn the television on. Plates of ornamental designs from 1728 taken from James Gibbs’ work “A book of architecture: containing designs of buildings and ornaments.”

Three Designs for Vases, done for the Right Honourable the Earl of Oxford. There are two vases well executed in Portland Stone according to the middle draught, which are set upon two large piers on each side of the principal Walk in the Garden at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire. Plate CXXXVIII. Page 316 of James Gibbs’ 1728 work A book of architecture: containing designs of buildings and ornaments. Collections of and digitalized by Oberlin College. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/bookofarchitectu0000gibb/page/n316/mode/1up

Draughts of vases, etc. in the Antique manner, made for several persons at different times. Many of them have been executed both in marble and metal. Plate CXXXIX. Page 312 of James Gibbs’ 1728 work A book of architecture: containing designs of buildings and ornaments. Collections of and digitalized by Oberlin College. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/bookofarchitectu0000gibb/page/n312/mode/1up
Eight Draughts of Marble Cisterns for Buffets. Plate CXLV. Page 324 of James Gibbs’ 1728 work A book of architecture: containing designs of buildings and ornaments. Collections of and digitalized by Oberlin College. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/bookofarchitectu0000gibb/page/n324/mode/1up
Fifteen pedestals for busts. Plate CL. Page 334 of James Gibbs’ 1728 work A book of architecture: containing designs of buildings and ornaments. Collections of and digitalized by Oberlin College. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/bookofarchitectu0000gibb/page/n334/mode/1up

New South Wales, Australia just a little while ago. Plates from the second edition of David Collins’s “An account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from its first settlement in January 1788 to August, 1801. Published in London in 1804.

A view of the Governor’s House at Rose Hill in the township of Parramatta. 1804. Page 139 of David Collins’s work An account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from its first settlement in January 1788 to August, 1801. J Heath, engraver. Collections of the Victoria Museums. Atlas of Living Australia, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/172462#page/139/mode/1up

Bywater to Parramatta with a distant view of the western mountains taken from the Wind mill hill at Sydney. Stamped National Museum Melbourne. 1804. Page 173 of David Collins’s work An account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from its first settlement in January 1788 to August, 1801. J Heath, engraver. Collections of the Victoria Museums. Atlas of Living Australia, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/172462#page/173/mode/1up

An Eastern view of Sydney, taken from a small prominence neigh the New barracks. Stamped National Museum Melbourne.1804. Page 211 of David Collins’s work An account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from its first settlement in January 1788 to August, 1801. J Heath, engraver. Collections of the Victoria Museums. Atlas of Living Australia, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/172462#page/211/mode/1up

View of Sydney on the South side of Norfolk Island. Stamped National Museum Melbourne. 1804. Page 387 of David Collins’s work An account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from its first settlement in January 1788 to August, 1801. J Heath, engraver. Collections of the Victoria Museums. Atlas of Living Australia, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/172462#page/387/mode/1up

More from Percy MacQuoid’s work “History of English Furniture: Age of Satinwood.” Published in Edinburgh by T. and A. Constable, printers to His Majesty (Edward VII). Collections of the Society of the Four Arts.

Amboyna-wood writing cabinet (left); inlaid mahogany pole-screen (right). Both pieces being the property of Alfred Littleton, Esquire. Plate VIII, page 170. Signed Shirley Slocombe artist, 1908. Collections of the Society of the Four Arts. Scanned by the Internet Archive. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfEnglishFurnitureAgeOfSatinwood/page/n170/mode/1up

Figure 124 – Painted wood pedestal; Figure 125 – Carved wood lantern. Both pieces being the property of the Earl of Harewood. Page 173. Collections of the Society of the Four Arts. Scanned by the Internet Archive. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfEnglishFurnitureAgeOfSatinwood/page/n173/mode/1up
Figure 131 – Robert Adam’s design for bed. Page 180. Collections of the Society of the Four Arts. Scanned by the Internet Archive. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfEnglishFurnitureAgeOfSatinwood/page/n180/mode/1up
Satin-wood commode. Property of Alfred Littleton, Esquire. Plate X, page 224. Signed Shirley Slocombe artist, 1908. Collections of the Society of the Four Arts. Scanned by the Internet Archive. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfEnglishFurnitureAgeOfSatinwood/page/n224/mode/1up

Visions of a long ago Scotland. Victorian, painted by Waller Hugh Paton who lived from 1828 to 1895. A painter of landscapes, he was the son of a damask designer. An associate of the Royal Scottish Academy and member of the Royal Society of Watercolorists. Queen Victoria liked his pictures.

Entrance to the Cuiraing, Skye. 1873. Scottish. Oil on canvas. Image source and photography: Scottish National Gallery. Collections of the Scottish National Gallery. In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waller_Hugh_Paton_-_%27Entrance_to_the_Cuiraing,_Skye%27.jpg

Dunnottar Castle. 1867. Scottish. Image source Stephencdickson, Cc0 License 4.0. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnottar_Castle_by_Walter_Hugh_Paton_1867.JPG
Edinburgh with a distant view of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. A watercolor view of Edinburgh from the side of St Margaret’s Loch at sunset, looking west 1862. Scottish. Commissioned by Queen Victoria. Watercolor and bodycolor with gum arabic and burnishing.  Signed in monogram and dated WHP 1862. Image © Royal Collection Trust. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.rct.uk/collection/919573/edinburgh-with-a-distant-view-of-the-palace-of-holyroodhouse

Up into the Arctic and down to the Antarctic with English watercolorist Charles Hamilton Smith who was also a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Artillery. Living from 1776 to 1859, he painted what he saw as he traveled around the world during his military career.

“Spitzbergen, Bearing South,” from the collection of 75 watercolors entitled “Views of Polar Regions”. 19th c. English. Watercolor and graphite. Collections of the Yale Center for British Arts, New Haven. Image © Yale Center for British Arts. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://wanderingvertexes.blogspot.com/2021/08/newtontoppen-spitzbergen-by-charles.html
“Remarkable Iceberg seen in July, 1818.” ca. 1818. English. Watercolor and graphite on moderately thick, moderately textured wove paper. Collections of the Collections of the Yale Center for British Arts, New Haven. Image © Yale Center for British Arts, Paul Mellon Collection. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/remarkable-iceberg-charles-hamilton-smith-1776%E2%80%931859-belgian/kwFvKsdBrhN6Xw
“Victoria lands, South Polar Regions: Mont Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica,” from the collection of 75 watercolors entitled “Views of Polar Regions”. 19th c. English. Watercolor and graphite. Collections of the Yale Center for British Arts, New Haven. Image © Yale Center for British Arts. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://wanderingvertexes.blogspot.com/2019/10/erebus-seen-by-charles-hamilton-smith.html
“Mount Sabine, Victoria Land,  Antarctica, discovered in 1841,” from the collection of 75 watercolors entitled “Views of Polar Regions”. ca. 1841. English. Watercolor. Collections of the Yale Center for British Arts, New Haven. Image © Yale Center for British Arts. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://wanderingvertexes.blogspot.com/2019/11/mount-sabine-by-charles-hamilton-smith.html
Petoowack Arctic Highlands Formation Antarctica. Undated, by 1858. British. Watercolor and graphite on cream wove paper. Charles Hamilton Smith, watercolorist (1776-1859). Collections of the Yale Center for British Art. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via Francis Rousseau @mountainpaintingsandmore on Instagram. via Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CpdQ2xGM_zy/

Landscapes with a few people from another place in time to dream your way back to. Probably doesn’t look like that anymore. Painted by English artist John Rogers Herbert who lived from 1810 to 1986. Studied at the Royal Academy Schools.

“Landscape in the North of Israel.” 1873. English. Oil on board. Signed “J. R. Herbert RA” and dated 1873 on the lower left. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/eclectic-new-york/landscape-in-the-north-of-israel
“LABORARE EST ORARE (to labour is to pray) And some fell upon rock: and as soon as it was sprung up it withered away because it had no moisture And some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it choked [sic] And some fell upon good ground : and sprung up and yielded fruit a hundred fold Gospel of St. Luke. The monks of St. Bernard’s Abbey Leicester gathering the harvest of 1861. The boys in the adjoining field are from the Reformatory under the care of these Religious.’” Collections of the Tate Galleries. Cc0 License 3.0. via https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/herbert-laborare-est-orare-t01455
“Asyut on the Nile.” 1873. English. Image source: r
http://www.johnrogersherbert.co.uk/painting. In the public domain in the United States because the artist has been dead over 70 years. via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Asyut_on_the_Nile.jpg
“Approaching the Oasis.” 1880. English. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated “J. R. Herbert RA 1880” on the lower left. Image © Bonhams 2001-2021. Fair use license. via https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/14883/lot/243/?category=list

Designs to fancy up everything. Why live boring if you can use these? Taken from Samuel Leith’s work “The Tradesman’s Book of ornamental Designs” which was published in London in 1847.

Title page. Page 3. Collections of the Clark Art Institute Library. Digitalizing federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/tradesmansbookof00leit/page/n3/mode/1up?view=theater
“Iron Work.” Page 7. Collections of the Clark Art Institute Library. Digitalizing federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/tradesmansbookof00leit/page/n7/mode/1up?view=theater
“Flemish.” Page 11. Collections of the Clark Art Institute Library. Digitalizing federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/tradesmansbookof00leit/page/n11/mode/1up?view=theater
‘Italian: from a rare etching by Guido Reni after Lucas Cambiaso.” Page 13. Collections of the Clark Art Institute Library. Digitalizing federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/tradesmansbookof00leit/page/n13/mode/1up?view=theater

Gothic scroll. Page 22. Collections of the Clark Art Institute Library. Digitalizing federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/tradesmansbookof00leit/page/n22/mode/1up?view=theater
Elizabethan panels. Page 6. Collections of the Clark Art Institute Library. Digitalizing federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/tradesmansbookof00leit/page/6/mode/1up?view=theater
Window heads – Elizabethan. Page 36. Collections of the Clark Art Institute Library. Digitalizing federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/tradesmansbookof00leit/page/36/mode/1up?view=theater
Fire screen – Grotesque. Page 16. Collections of the Clark Art Institute Library. Digitalizing federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/tradesmansbookof00leit/page/16/mode/1up?view=theater

Live like the Prince Regent at least until supper time. Plates from W. H. Pyne’s work “The history of the royal residences of Windsor Castle, Saint James’s Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore” which was published between 1816 and 1819. These being from Volume I of three.

“Ancient Kitchen, Windsor Castle.” Image 29. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t7qp2n24k&view=1up&seq=31
“Ancient Bell Tower, Windsor Castle.” Image 52. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t7qp2n24k&view=1up&seq=52
“Staircase, Windsor Castle.” Image 108. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t7qp2n24k&view=1up&seq=108
Hampton Court Palace. Image 6 from The history of the royal residences of Windsor Castle, Saint James’s Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore. 1819. W. H. Pyne, author. Published in London, England. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012272262/page/n5/mode/1up
The Chapel, Hampton Court. Image 16 from The history of the royal residences of Windsor Castle, Saint James’s Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore. 1819. W. H. Pyne, author. Published in London, England. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012272262/page/n15/mode/1up
Banqueting Hall, Hampton Court. Image 34 from The history of the royal residences of Windsor Castle, Saint James’s Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore. 1819. W. H. Pyne, author. Published in London, England. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012272262/page/n33/mode/1up
Grand Stair Case, Hampton Court. Image 50 from The history of the royal residences of Windsor Castle, Saint James’s Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore. 1819. W. H. Pyne, author. Published in London, England. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012272262/page/n50/mode/1up

Novelty Edwardian pincushions in sterling silver. Two animals and a canoe for them to paddle away in. Also a few more new friends that were made by other silver firms. Made by Levi and Salaman in Birmingham, England.

Pig. 1904.
Pig. 1904. Image © Harrington & Company Vintage Luxury & Collectables, Woolloongabba. Fair use license. via http://www.hnco.com.au/rare-1904-levi-salaman-english-sterling-silver-pig-cushion/
Elephant with raised trunk, engraved "Bramble Hill" on one side. 1905.
Elephant with raised trunk, engraved “Bramble Hill” on one side. 1905. Image ©2019 LoveAntiques.com. Fair use license. via https://www.loveantiques.com/antique-silver/edwardian-(1901-1914)/edwardian-silver-pin-cushion-elephant-raised-trunk-levi-and-salaman-1905-59211
Hedgehog pin cushion. 1906.
Hedgehog pin cushion. 1906. Image ©2019 LoveAntiques.com. Fair use license. via https://www.loveantiques.com/antique-silver/silver-pin-cushions/adorable-antique-silver-hedgehog-pin-cushion-levi-and-salaman-birmingham-1906-163248
Canoe pincushion. 1905.
Canoe pincushion. 1905. Image © I.Franks 2019. Fair use license. via https://www.ifranks.com/item/j0823-silver-pincushions
Standing camel novelty silver pincushion. 1905. Edwardian. Made in Birmingham, England by Sydney and Company. Image © Toovey’s Antique and Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers. Fair use license. via https://www.tooveys.com/lots/528577/an-edwardian-silver-novelty-pincushion-in-the-form-of-a-standing-camel
Silver novelty pincushion in the form of an ornamental pheasant standing on an oval base. 1905. Edwardian. British, made in Chester by Sampson Mordan and Company, Ltd. Image © Toovey’s Antique and Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers. Fair use license. via https://www.tooveys.com/lots/528578/an-edwardian-silver-novelty-pincushion-in-the-form-of-an