Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Nick Steagner's Tender 1900 Notebook/Sketchpad, Wayne County, PA wooden boy Such a fantastic box

Such a fantastic box

with a bit of a smear between the face and raised hand of one girl

and just give it a spin now and then

black laquered paper mâché (such as that one finds antique snuff boxes made of) surface

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Nick Steagner's Tender 1900 Notebook/Sketchpad, Wayne County, PA wooden boy Such a fantastic boxThis little notebook reveals itself as a very very tender one, quietly telling a story of a young man's artistic aspirations and what one presumes was his first trip from farm in Pennsylvania to New York City. I purchased it from a Pennsylvania based dealer who had several other sketchbooks by the same Nice Steagner (this one dated 1900) those others filled with drawing after drawing of cows, more cows, and more cows, occasionally horse or sheep, too.