This book was presented to the Right Honourable Lord Lurgan K.P. Lieutenant of County Armagh. This was to mark the occasion of the coming of age of his son, the Honourable William Brownlow of the Grenadier Guards. William Brownlow was the third Baron Lurgan (1858-1937). Each page of this book is decorated with a different and highly skilled illuminated border.

It was usual in the second half of the nineteenth century for illuminated books to be presented to eminent local families. This book was illuminated by hand, by the Belfast firm, Marcus Ward and Co. in 1879. The book was then bound in the finest leather and given to the family inside a leather presentation box.