Author: [Murray, Hannah And Mary]
Title: The Toilet [a Movable Book]
Description: Washington, D.C.: William Ballantyne, 1867. Hardcover. First edition thus; pp. [48] printed recto only; pebbled burgundy cloth; gilt title; fading and faint spotting to spine and margins of covers; small rubbed spots to corners; residue from a removed bookplate to front endpaper; a few minor spots of foxing mostly to pages' margins; 19 chromolithographed leaves with all the flaps present (a few of them with small nicks and trimmed/clipped corners); one leaf backed with a second sheet of paper, thus repairing and strengthening a closed horizontal cut to the upper margin of the page; overall in very good condition. In 1821, William Grimaldi (a miniature-painter in London) illustrated a book created by his son Stacey Grimaldi, which was titled "The Toilet" and was designed to instill feminine virtues in young ladies. In 1827, inspired by Grimaldi's book, sisters Hannah and Mary Murray of New York designed their own version titled "The American Toilet," made it by hand, and sold it for charity. Though it appeared to be a book of cosmetics it was instead one on virtues. Each of the 19 leaves carried a riddle in verse and a chromolithographed image of an item in a lady's boudoir (lip salve, eye water, mirror, etc.) in the form of a flap. When the flap was lifted the answer to the riddle was revealed. For example: "A daily portion of this essence use, 'Twill smooth the brow, and tranquil joy diffuse." A pot of "a wash to smooth wrinkles?" No, the answer was "contentment." This 1867 edition (first thus) was "altered and improved." With only one other incomplete copy in the trade this is the only complete one (the flaps are tucked-in rather than glued which accounts for their fragility and propensity to being lost). Ill.: 0. 2.

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