Caution Requisite in Marrying. New York: Sold by E.P. Whaites, 1838-1840.
This elegantly designed letter sheet features a spectacular border of flowers, foliage and moths surrounding engraved text by the English Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) expounding on the dangers of marriage (“It is an ill band of affections to tie two hearts together, by a little thread of red and white, and they can love no longer…”). The sheet was sold in New York around 1840 by an engraver and stationer who also offered silk ribbons, diplomas, certificates and calling cards at his shop on Cortlandt St. Edward Percy Whaites first appears in the New York papers in 1837. His engraving office seems to have been focused on job work and ephemera, although he also sold books.
