Manuscript commonplace book of children's verse and prose, heavily illustrated, all apparently in the hand of Lady Mary Sarah Amherst Egerton, for the benefit of her daughter Gertrude Lucia (later Countess of Albemarle). The album contains a near equal balance of text and illustration, and most pages consist of a careful integration of the two. Almost all of the illustrative matter compliments accompanying text, depicting characters and scenes described therein. Some of the characters illustrated may include young Gertrude and her mother; one sketch (without accompanying text) is labeled "Aunt Bee knitting". The illustrations are almost entirely in pen and black or brown ink; accompanying text is at times written in the same ink, at other times in inks of red or blue.
The texts include limericks, nursery rhymes, folk songs, fables, poems, and devotional writing. Some of the poems and prose may be original or obscure. Identifiable writings include poems by Alice Mary Cholmondeley and Reginald Heber. Also present are printed versions of two stories by Wilhelm Busch, "Diogenes und die bösen Buben von Korinth" and "Der hohle Zahn." Wood-engraved illustrations from the stories have been individually trimmed and mounted in the album; the German text of each illustrated panel is translated into English, written in pencil below each panel.