Norway 1866

This album titled 'Norway' was created by Charles George Lewis in 1866. Here, we have a book where the interplay between the tactile qualities of the cover's material and its textual elements immediately commands attention. The dominant visual experience is one of understated elegance, combined with the raw authenticity conveyed through the handwritten note affixed to the cover. Structurally, the composition is divided into distinct zones: the textured expanse of the main cover, the smooth contrast of the spine, and the superimposed note. This textual intrusion disrupts the visual field, inviting a semiotic reading. The text transforms the cover into a signifier of travel, memory, and artistic intention. It signifies a journey marked by a specific time and place. The cover, therefore, functions as a threshold, inviting us to consider how material objects like books mediate our understanding of place and time.