Total Solar Eclipse Austrian Journal of Popular Astronomy Bookplate, c. 1876 sewing caddy it's an old stair baluster

it's an old stair baluster into which little faces were carved on both sides of one end

to store them in

and if one looks closely a tiny nest perched on one of the branches

Marked with an "A" on the back

9 3/4" tall x 4 3/4" in diameter

Total Solar Eclipse Austrian Journal of Popular Astronomy Bookplate, c. 1876 sewing caddy it's an old stair balusterThis is an antique color lithograph book plate from a volume of Zeitschrift fr populre Astronomi (Journal of Popular Astronomy), published by Lith Anst, Graz (Austria), c. 1876. The image itself was created by Rudolf Falb (1838 1903), an Austrian popularizer of natural history, who also popularized the concept of extraterrestrial influences on geophysical phenomena! The eclipsed sun is jet black, with super rich red for the solar flares. 8 7 8"" x 6".