First page of the guest book used by the Glessners at their summer estate, The Rocks, near Littleton, New Hampshire. The full title reads, “The Guest-Book, in which may be recorded the comings and the goings of guests with pages for autographs, incidents, and sketches pertaining to pleasant visits, social calls, and other gatherings.” Published in 1885, the book was designed and illustrated by Annie F. Cox, who had previously found success with her book, Baby’s Kingdom, one of the first mass-marketed baby books specifically designed to record the growth and development of children.
The guest book was maintained for twenty-three summer seasons, the earliest entries dating to 1885, and the last to 1907. In addition to recording their impressions of The Rocks, many guests also included poems, pen and ink sketches, and watercolors. The entries provide a wonderful insight into the lives of the Glessners and their circle of friends. Among those to sign the book were landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, architects George Shepley, Charles Coolidge, and Hermann V. von Holst, orchestra conductors Theodore Thomas and Frederick Stock, music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, University of Chicago president Harry Pratt Judson, artist John Elliott and his author wife Maud Howe Elliott, and businessman George W. Perkins.