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Endpaper
Unknown - Enlarge image
Endpaper
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (made)
- Date:
ca. 1897 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Ink on paper
- Museum number:
E.6326:67-1897
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C, case GG, shelf 151, box B
This is an example of a marbled paper from the 19th century. Marbled papers were introduced into Europe from the Near East around 1600. The tradition probably began in Turkey or Persia in 1100. By the 1600s France and the Netherlands in particular were known for producing high-quality marbled papers.
The main use for marbled papers has traditionally been as endpapers in books. The papers are produced by suspending colours on a liquid surface, manipulating them into patterns – either physically or with the help of chemicals – and then absorbing the pattern into paper. Historically, marbling was passed down from generation to generation, trade secrets kept within marbling families.
