Here is a printable illustration of a beautiful Victorian lady named Margarita. The 175 year old page she is on is also beautiful if you like grunge like I like grunge.

I scanned the original page from the January 1842 issue of The New Monthly Belle Assemblee which is included in the latest book recently added to my collection. The book is a bound volume of the full year’s publications (January – December 1842) of The New Monthly Belle Assemblee magazine.

My book arrived by courier a few days before Christmas and my adult children, who were visiting with me over the holidays, encouraged me to let them gift wrap the unopened parcel and put it under the tree until Christmas Day. Although I was anxious to open the package, I joined in the fun and let them wrap it and place it under the tree. It wasn’t easy to wait but it was exciting to unwrap the package on Christmas morning because even though I knew my “new” book was inside, I didn’t know exactly what treasures were within the book (other than the description and few images that were included in the online listing).

I posted two of the colored fashion plates from the January 1842 issue of the magazine on my blog here a couple weeks ago and I plan to post several more illustrations from the book throughout 2017.

Here is a cleaned up black and white version of the illustration of Margarita.

Each of the black and white illustrations in the book has a corresponding poem. I will try to get the Margarita poem posted for you this evening.

Click on images to enlarge.