Presentation Notebook" or "Folio" Bearing the Coat-of-Arms of the United Kingdom

Paris, 1855. First Edition. Vellum. Fine. This "Presentation Notebook" or "Folio", for want of a more specific name for it, is an exquisite example of French decorative binding, bearing on the front board the coat-of-arms of the United Kingdom, with its two mottos, "Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense" (or "Shame to whoever thinks ill" or "Evil to he who thinks evil", etc.) and "Dieu et Mon Droit" (or "God and my right", and more loosely, "God is behind me"). The emblem is blindstamped and richly hand-colored, and further spectacular ornamental work frames it as well as the golden crown on the rear board. This unique folder was allegedly a gift by Louis Napoleon to a member of the Royal party during the state visit of the Queen in 1855 in conjunction with the Exposition Universelle, or the first major world's fair, held in Paris, after the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851. Inside the endpapers are a silk moire and then the leaves are held in place by a silk ribbon. There are four sheets of fine paper, making 16 pages or sides, and a pink outer sheet. On four of the pages in the top corner are tinted images of four Paris monuments: Palais des Tuileries (the Louvre), Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe and the Madeleine. The Notebook measures 8.5 by 5.5 inches, or 21 by 13 cm. Fine.