Marbled paper specimen made by Karli Frigge.

Marbled paper specimen made by Karli Frigge.

Gift of Jan Storm van Leeuwen.

“Marbling belongs to bookbinding, and in the old days all young bookbinders had to learn it.” So writes the world-renowned Dutch artist and bookbinder Karli Frigge, who was apprenticed to the craft at the age of 16. An innovator, Frigge has experimented with traditional methods, creating new genres of marbling, which displayed for their beauty as often—if not even more frequently—than used for the purposes of bookbinding. The marbled specimen shown here have been cut down from larger printed sheets per her usual practice.

From the collection of Rare Book School