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Grolier Club Exhibitions

American Decorated Paper since the Colonial Era

Decorated papers have played a vital role in bookbinding and the decorative arts for centuries. Commercially available American papers were rare before the 1970s, as the decorated paper artists, like most in this exhibition, were not yet working professionally. This case shows examples of decorated papers, books, and trade materials available to American bookbinders, artists, and designers by the 1960s.

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Lord George Lyttleton. Observations on the conversion and apostleship of St. Paul […]. Boston: Munroe and Francis, 1812.

The marbled paper on the covers of this book has been made on printer’s waste. According to Sidney E. Berger, the paper could have been made by the Mann family of Deadham, Massachusetts. The Manns, who were active for most of the 19th century, were a large and prolific family of printers and publishers of books, music, newspapers, playin cards, and related materials.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Friends of the Thomas J. Watson Library Gift

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M. Fichtenberg. Nouveau Manuel Complet du Fabricant de Papiers de Fantaisie, […]. Paris: Roret, 1852.

Fichtenberg’s New and Complete Manual on the Making of Fancy Papers has been an essential manual for modern marblers specializing in early patterns. It documents the innovations in French marbling technique and provides details on processes and the preparation of colors and instructions for making equipment. Plate 2 (seen here) illustrates eight patterns.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Friends of the Thomas J. Watson Library Gift

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Charles W. Woolnough. The Whole Art of Marbling as Applied to Paper, Bookedges, etc. […] London: G. Bell, 1881.

Perhaps the most important book on British marbling, The Whole Art of Marbling provides an account of the methods and materials of the craft. It provides instructions for making thirty traditional and contemporary patterns, as well as how to use the completed marbled papers in home decoration and how to marble on cloth. Shown here are the progressive stages of the Italian pattern.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Thomas J. Watson Library

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Bindery Talk. New York, Chicago, St. Louis: Gane Brothers & Company, November 1913.

This advertisement illustrates a roller tool for efficiently marbling the edges of books in two patterns: comb and spot effects. Bindery Talk was the trade journal of the prominent bookbinding and binding supply company, Gane Brothers & Company, established in 1846. The company still exists today under the ownership of Library Binding Services.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Friends of the Thomas J. Watson Library Gift

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Rosamond B. Loring. Marbled Papers. An Address Delivered Before the Members of the Club of Odd Volumes, November 16, 1932. Boston: Club of Odd Volumes, 1933.

Rosamond B. Loring (1889-1950), whose paste papers cover this book, was a maker, collector, and historian of decorated paper, as well as a hand bookbinder. From 1936 through 1949, Loring worked as the librarian for the Club of Odd Volumes in Boston. This book, published in 149 copies, led to the creation of her landmark treatise, Marbled Paper, its History, Techniques and Patterns, first published in 1942.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Jacob S. Rogers Fund

American Decorated Paper since the Colonial Era