Embossed wallcoverings have been in use since the 16th and 17th centuries when gilded and embossed leather wallhangings were used in wealthy households. In the later 19th century embossing was applied to papers and to other materials used as hard-wearing wallcoverings, designed to imitate leather hangings, moulded plasterwork or carved wood panelling. Embossed materials such as Lincrusta and Anaglypta became popular, but these were heavy and difficult to hang (and difficult to remove). By the 1960s wallpaper manufacturers had invented methods of producing lighter embosssed papers to achieve the same decorative effects. Such papers were available in many different patterns. This is one of seven samples from Melody Mills Ltd. in the V&A collection.