#marbled papers

[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

This lovely title just walked in the door a couple of days ago, our latest acquisition: novelist and Kentucky Poet Laureate, 2005-06, Sena Jeter Naslund’s winter story, When Children Ruled the World: A Christmas Story, about of a little girl named Una who wakes up in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky before there were any adults in the world. It was handprinted and published in late 2021 by Larkspur Press in Monterey, Kentucky, and illustrated with exquisite black and white and two-color wood engravings by the estimable Kentucky wood engraver Joanne Price.

Our copy is one of 42 printed on Zekall paper, quarter-bound with papers marbled by Debbie Shannon, and signed by the author and artist. There is also a separate run of 500 copies with original black and white wood engravings by Price printed on Mohawk Superfine (only $32! More than worth the price!). Today we are focusing on Price’s engravings, but the letterpress printing in handset Cloister Lightface, designed by Milwaukee-born Morris Fuller Benton, on a Chandler & Price hand press is equally exquisite. The entire edition was printed and handbound by writer Nana Lampton, press apprentice Leslie Shane, and Larkspur Press proprietor Gray Zeitz.

View more of our posts on the work of Joanne Price and her Starpointe Studio.

View more posts with wood engravings!

[narentabindery]

For the last binding update, the marbled papers are more dominated by the blue color, but they still have some traces of violet, black and orange.

Here you can see how larger amounts of blue were dropped on top of the other colors, which had been manipulated with a wooden tool, and pushed them away to create larger pools on the surface of the carrageenan bath.

This copy also sports violet and beige endbands, and a white ribbon.

These are all the projects I have for this update. There will be a couple more in the days to come, after which I'll be free to do more. Two are already in the completed textblock stage, and are only waiting for the choice of papers and cloth before they can be cased in.

[valiha]

Marbled paper black, orange and white - val78's Ko-fi Shop

Digital scan of a traditionally made marbled paper suitable for bookbinding, calligraphy, wall art or other objects.

Hey folks, I've finally started scanning and uploading my marbled papers and uploading them on Ko-fi and eventually on RedBubble, so if you're looking for some bookbinding cover paper, these have been scanned at 600 dpi and should provide you with a high-quality print (or various other objects in case of RedBubble items).

[uwmspeccoll]

Marbled Monday

This book is somewhat unassuming on the outside, with is brown leather and subtle gold tooling and stamping, but on the inside has the most beguiling marbled endpapers! The book is Elbert Hubbard’s Scrap Book: Containing the Inspired and Inspiring Selections Gathered During a Life Time of Discriminating Reading for His Own Use. We hold three copies of the book—this is copy 2 and the only copy we hold with this binding. 

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher who founded the Roycroft Arts and Crafts Community in Aurora, New York in 1895. Hubbard fashioned himself somewhat after William Morris as a socialist craftsman, although he later abandoned socialism. Hubbard and his wife Alice died in the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915 when the ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat. 

Elbert Hubbard’s Scrap Book was published in 1923 by The Roycrofters in Aurora, New York. It is a collection of passages by notable figures that Hubbard had collected during his life. The marbled papers are in a Serpentine pattern, similar to those we shared a few weeks ago on our copy of  Romanae Historiae Compendium... . These papers feature teal, reddish brown, and cream colors swirled together in a sort of zig-zagged pattern. 

View more Marbled Monday posts.  

-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager

[narentabindery]

The second update also uses my own marbled papers, this time in darker colors. This book was made in two copies, with slight differences in color choices for marbled papers.

For this copy, I used black, blue, violet and orange ink and did some slight manipulation with a wooden tool to get them to produce some interesting interaction effects. The bookcloth for these copies was Savanna black, and endbands were again sewn on single leather core with violet and beige crochet thread.

The paper is, as usual, Fabriano Ivory, and the ribbon is white.

This image is a nice closeup of how the endbands were sewn, and the variation of color in the crochet thread.

[narentabindery]

Completed commissions

I’ve finally found some time to upload the photos of a couple of finished commissions, and since my vacation is coming up I’ll be able to take up more bindings of fics as well as journals - both for myself and for others. This first half of the year has been absolutely brutal when it came to work. 

I also need to update all my info, so that it’s in order for the second half of the year. Here is the latest binding:

The papers I'm using are my original marbled papers, made with acrylic paints light blue, violet, and gold on a white paper. The first color dropped on the carrageenan bath was gold followed by blue and violet so that I would get gold veins on the surface of the white paper once it was pulled from the bath.

The bookcloth used was Savana powder blue, if I remember the name of the color correctly, and the endbands are handsewn using violet variegated crochet thread in combination with beige crochet thread I also use for sewing the textblock. They were sewn on single leather core.

The book also has a single white ribbon, and it's printed on A4 Fabriano Ivory paper. The size of the finished book is A6 or quarter letter. It's a great size for a shorter fic or a collection of shorter fics because it sits nicely in your hand and makes for an enjoyable read.

[uwmspeccoll]

Marbled Monday

This Marbled Monday we’re sharing an oldie but a goodie— Romanae Historiae Compendium ab Interitu Gordiani Iunioris Vsque ad Iustinium by  Julius Pomponius Laetus (1428-1498), humanist professor and founder of the Accademia Romana. Also known as Giulio Pomponio Leto, members of his academy took Greek or Latin names, so his original Italian name is unknown. The book is a text on Roman history from the death of Gordian the Younger to Justinus and was published in 1500 in Venice by Bernardinum Venetum de Vitalibus. The binding, however, is probably late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

The marbling on this half binding is a Serpentine pattern and is quite striking, with green, yellow, and a reddish-toned brown swirled together in sort of triangular or chevron-like pattern. I found this book while browsing the stacks for good marbling, and boy did I find some!

- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager

[narentabindery]

Shop updates

I'm sewing headbands on a book tonight and then casing it in, and will do the same for the last one tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've started uploading my marbled papers on RedBubble and Ko-fi, so if you are interested in having an item of your own with one of my paper designs, or downloading a scanned sheet to use for your own binding, the links are: Ko-fi and RedBubble.

You may use the printable download to make your own item; do not re-sell the actual digital file on other websites.