Beautiful Thick Antique Japanese Merchant Ledger with Rope Binding hand-painted valenting born in 1882 in Canada

born in 1882 in Canada

There's a warm patina on the brass

with what looks like red here veering more toward an orange (the first image is the closest

I believe this was meant to be made into a potholder

definitely they are early ones though

Beautiful Thick Antique Japanese Merchant Ledger with Rope Binding hand-painted valenting born in 1882 in CanadaThis is a an old Japanase merchant ledger book that I believe would be known as a daifuku cho, with sumi ink characters on the front and back covers, handwritten tabs dividing sections, and many of its many many pages filled with ink writing. It is bound at the top with rope; I believe the binding would also be used for hanging it, as I understand it such that it and other ledgers could be quickly gathered up if there was a fire or emergency. Later