A Curiouser and Curiouser Collection -- Rebus, Heiroglyph, Puzzle

Hardcover. Very Good+. Seven hand-painted manuscript leaves (8” x 12”) in heavy gilt-framed mattes, bound in navy blue cloth (12.5” x 19”). Covers quite tattered – soiled, scuffed, fraying – with some light chipping along edges of mattes. Faint scattered foxing on manuscript leaves, but remarkably bright and clean, colors remain true. Are these rebuses? Hieroglyphs? The colorful, meticulously detailed images collected herein seem to refer to Egypt, Adam and Eve, music, myth, and math all at once. With five adept pastel sketches laid in at the rear (all of which seem to be of Ireland’s mythological hero, Cu Chulainn). A compelling puzzle.