Ruskin himself describes the sketchbook in Praeterita as  my quite first sketch-book, an extremely inconvenient upright small octavo in mottled and flexible cover, the paper pure white, and ribbedly gritty, filled with outlines, irregularly defaced by impulsive efforts at finish, in arbitrary places and corners  (Works, 35:77). It is ? x ? cm (cover), ? X ? cm (pages); 33 leaves.
	The sketchbook was used during a summer tour of 1831 to sketch sites in the southeast of England, before the family traveled on to Wales. According to Dearden, John James described the following itinerary in ?:
	1831, May 25  Dover, Margate, Southampton, Portsmouth, Stonehenge, Hereford, Devil’s Bridge, Hafod, Aberystwyth, Dolgelly, Cader Idris, Barmouth, Harlech, Tan-y-bwlch, Caernarvon, Snowdon, Bangor, Conway, Llangollen, Oswestry, Monmouth, Chepstow, Clifton, Bath, Newbury, 21 July.
	The sketchbook was used again in 1832, during a similar journey to the southeast (see MS VIIIB). This itinerary is listed by John James in ? as restricted to the southeast:
	1832  Sevenoaks, Dover from 22 May to 30 June; Hastings to 19 July.