This interview is a part of a series produced by Anna Markova, book bindings' historian and rare book librarian at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow.) The series is dedicated to book artisans of different kinds.
These two volumes were standing out among other tomes at the book market in the Hague. But what most impressed me wasn't visible while the volumes were tucked between other books. Just check the marbled paper!
Just a couple of weeks ago I saw a post from Simon Beattie about an 18th-century Russian book with "marbled" endpapers that were in reality hand-printed. Imagine my surprise when I found something similar just a few days later!
I wanted to share this with you for several weeks already, but some other things always intervened. I received a lot of nice bookish presents from all over the world this past holiday season. But these pieces of marbled velour paper were the most gratifying by far!
Right opposite the entrance to our quarter in Leiden there's an old books shop. In the window passers by can see lots of book-earrings with marbled covers.
When my wife and I visited Switzerland earlier this year, we tried a short marbling workshop at the Paper Mill Museum in Basel. Then she told me: "But why aren't we doing that all the time at home?" So, target acquired!
I don't think I've seen anything like that before, so I decided to share it with you. This book has a cardboard front cover... and a soft back cover, made with the extension of the marbled paper turned over the spine.
