Andrea here, talking today about books. No surprise there—we do that a lot here at the Word Wenches! But my topic today isn’t about the words on the printed page, but rather the remarkable art of the decorative papers that were traditionally used to create beautiful cover and endpapers in book.
Alas, today it’s becoming a lost art, but I recently saw a marvelous exhibit at the Grolier Club (it’s a wonderful society dedicated to the arts of the book and book collecting) in New York City on the art of contemporary marbling, so I thought I would share some of the fabulous creations and give a short explanation of the history and process of marbled paper.
Like many of book-related arts, marbling originated in China around 900 CE, and spread to the Islamic world during the 15th century. As the human figure is not used in Islamic art, calligraphy has been traditionally been an important artistic expression, and marbled paper was often used as a complement to the letterforms. 
During the 17th century, travelers visiting the East (especially Constantinople) began to bring back marbled paper to Europe and Britain. It soon became popular for use on book cover, end papers—and also for lining bookshelves and drawers! One fascinating story is that in 1690, the Bank of England experimented with using partially marbled paper for its bank notes . . . until they discovered that a forger had figured out how to duplicate the pattern! Still, they apparently used continued to use some form of marbled paper for certain types of cheques until 1810. Another fun story is that Benjamin Franklin acquired British marbled security paper for the Continental Congress, and it was used to print $20 banknotes for the American revolutionaries in 1775! 
Now on to the process, which as you can see by the shoes and brush can be cheerfully messy! (Marbling can definitely be a full-contact sport!) 
In a nutshell, pigment, usually oil-based—is floated atop a tray of water mixed with a “size,” which is some sort of ingredient that thickens the water and makes the pigment float on the surface. (A popular type of size in Britain and America is made from seaweed and is called “Irish moss.” Another common size is gum tragacanth, which is made from a species of Middle Eastern plant.) Then a marbling artist, can spatter pigment, use all sorts of implements—sticks, combs, brushes, fingers, or whatever!—to create a design. Then a sheet of paper is carefully placed atop the pigment and the colors are transferred to the paper, which is hung up to dry. 
Each print is unique—that’s called a monotype in art the art world. The remaining pigment is then carefully scraped off the size and the process is repeated. An artist skilled in marbling can learn techniques for duplicating certain types of patterns.
Once one has mastered the basic techniques, the sky is the limit on creativity. One can spatter water or turpentine on the pigments to create “negative space; one can be inventive with the tools used to swirl the colors; one can use an artist’s brush to paint detailed images on the size—imagination is encouraged to take flight.
As, I’ve said, these days marbling has become a rare artform—even though it’s actually quite easy to set up and have some fun! However, there is a thriving community of people still practicing the art, and as you see from one of the pictures, it’s also become a cool thing to marble body parts! (Be sure the pigments are non-toxic!) I think it’s a beautiful touch to bookmaking and hope the craft of it is never lost.
What about you? Do you like marbled paper? Do you have old books with marbling? Would like to try your hand (um, quite literally!) at marbling paper? I was lucky enough to learn about it in art school, and we had a lot of fun actually doing it.
