Wonderful (and Long!) 1840 Letter from Elias A Brown To "My Dear Wife," with Beautiful Cross Writing Victorian era With a curious hard right

With a curious hard right edge to the oval

and if so my guess is painted toward the tail end of Belgian occupation (1950s) or just after-- the inclusion of armed soldiers in black at left provides no definitive clue

I haven't been able to find out anything about the Ted Cross who signed it

11 5/16" x 1 5/8" d

with some aging to the wood and a few scratches

Wonderful (and Long!) 1840 Letter from Elias A Brown To "My Dear Wife," with Beautiful Cross Writing Victorian era With a curious hard rightI have for a long time wanted to turn up a good example of cross writing, shown here on the first page of this letter, brilliantly (and beautifully!) used in the early mid 19th century as a way of conserving space and paper. I just love to look at it! But happily this is a pretty wonderful and notable letter, too, written from Elias A Brown to his dear wife Louisa Anna (Cady) Brown in Minaville, Montgomery County, NY, 1840. There is a good bit about