Antique Handmade Book Box with Interior Portrait man in box which I found stored inside

which I found stored inside the barn

thick cardboard with really nice black backs

which I'll try to do before shipping

Burns who signed it

Antique Handmade Book Box with Interior Portrait man in box which I found stored insideI rarely meet a book shaped thing I don't like, and this feels like something of an example of not judging a book by its cover! I'm thinking there may once have been a picture of some sort adhered to the outside cover, which shows a bare spot surrounded by red paint now and perhaps that picture functioned as a sort of counterpart to the portrait print of woman in large plumed hat inside; my guess is that it turned this book box into a c. 1800 French