I purchased this and a second just listed together, the other with a handwritten note on it that applies to this one too: "Edwin Clark drew these to amuse Ella when a little girl and she finds them when she is 64 years old where she has carefully preserved them in hers and Sophy's [?] desk and looked them over when resting and enjoying her garden. July 20, 1918, 8:30 pm."

I don't imagine the sketches on this page have any relationship to the Merchants Exchange, but rather that Edwin never wrote his memo and used the paper this way instead! Happily, though, it places him in Ogdensburg, NY in March of 1865, and with a quick search I find the Clark mansion there, and learn that Edwin Clark (1800-1869) was a businessman and developer, who in addition to owning the mansion, owned offices, stores and a number of other lots in the city. His daughter, Ella Clark, who wrote the note on the other drawing, died in the home in 1923.

I love knowing the history but it's the drawing I love- especially that pair of snakes with faces formed by their intertwining, and that electrified looking cat, and the man and moon at lower left who also seems to be a harp. To my eye just completely charming, and I'd guess Edmin Clark was a charmer, too!

7 3/4" x 9 7/8", ink on lined paper with embossed mark at upper left and in very good condition.