MERRILL, Emily M. [Manuscript] “The American Toilet”. Circa 1855. Bound in the original marbled paper covered wraps with pencil ownership inscription to the inside front wrap. Pp 20 including frontis, each page with handwritten title, caption in verse and lift- the -flap illustration revealing an appropriate virtue. Complete, with remarkably no loss to the flaps. The illustrations are a little naïve, or possibly the work of a younger woman. We arrive at our date for the work by suggesting that Emily might have been 15 when making it although that is speculation. A likely candidate for authorship below. Emily M Merrill was born in 1840, in New York, United States. Her father, Orson Merrill [1809–1896], a farmer, was 31 and her mother, Emeline (nee Fitts)[1810–1880] was 30. She died on 30 March 1889, in Champion, Jefferson, New York, United States, at the age of 49, and was buried in Champion Huddle Cemetery, Champion, Jefferson, New York, United States. The Merrills were a Pioneer family. Minor Merrill son of Moses and Waitstill Merrill came to Champion in 1804 from Connecticut. Along with his wife Betsy [nee Cody] he had carried all his household goods on a sled towed by yoked oxen with a horse in the lead. He died in Champion on March 9, 1860. “The American Toilet” was a rare moveable conduct book intended for young women. First Published in 1827 by Imbert's Lithographic Office in New York, attributed to Hannah Lindley Murray. It had movable flaps as in our later manuscript copy, with the intention of teaching the virtues of discretion, cheerfulness, and industry, contrasting external beauty with inner character through illustrations of dressing table items. A significant piece of early American publishing history, and interesting to find in a manuscript example.