Beautiful book

I'll often buy an old book thinking that I'll cut it up to make pictures or gift tags, but when I get it home, I realise that I can't bear to commit it to the scissors. This one definitely won't be for the chop. It's an intriguing old French illustrated dictionary called La Rousse Illustre. It doesn't look much from the outside: 

But inside is a different matter:

The colour plates are beautiful, too:

Plenty of time for browsing while the family are away, too. I've been busy painting today, I should be able to post some pictures of what I've been up to tomorrow.