Baby Dear" -- Baby Book of Richard Elton Chalker (died at 7 mos.)

United States, 1929. Very good. Upper board split. Minor stains, wear to silk.. A lovingly produced and heartbreaking baby book with hand-painted silk album cover for Richard Elton Chalker (1929-1930), a baby who died at the age of 7 months of bronchial pneumonia and whooping cough. The book includes: a two-page typewritten account of the baby's illness and subsequent death, in emotional and visceral detail; a family tree; height and weight measurements; a list of baby gifts; his birth flower and stone (Morning Glory, Sapphire); date of first automobile ride (at Landsdowne Airport); date of firth tooth; newspaper clippings with death announcements; a handwritten account of his ill health and death; a list of first Christmas gifts; and two photos of the infant, including a post-mortem image of him in his casket. Oblong 12mo album measures approx. 6" by 9.25"; approx. 50 unnumbered leaves, interleaves, most unused, secured in an album with watered silk cover, hand painted with floral design and the title "Baby Dear