Paper Marbling - History in Europe

History in Europe

In the 17th century European travelers to the Middle East collected examples of these papers and bound them into alba amicorum, which literally means "books of friendship" in Latin, and is a forerunner of the modern autograph album. Eventually the technique for making the papers reached Europe, where they became a popular covering material not only for book covers and end-papers, but also for lining chests, drawers, and bookshelves. The marbling of the edges of books was also a European adaptation of the art.

The unique methods of marbling attracted the curiosity of early scientists during the Renaissance. While the earliest published account was written in German by Daniel Schwenter, it wasn't published in his Delicæ Physico-Mathematicæ until 1671 (Wolfe, 16). A brief description of the art by Athanasius Kircher, published in Ars Magna Lucis et Umbræ in Rome in 1646, rapidly spread throughout Europe. (ibid) A thorough overview of the art with illustrations of marblers at work, and images of the tools of the trade was published in the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert.

An edge marbler and paper finisher with related equipment. Images reproduced from l'Encyclopedie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. Vol. IV p. 275-6 (1768).

The art became a popular handicraft in the 19th century after the English maker Charles Woolnough published his The Art of Marbling (1853). In it, he describes how he adapted a method of marbling onto book-cloth, which he exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851. (Wolfe, 79) Further developments in the art were made by Josef Halfer, a bookbinder of German origin, who lived in Budakeszi, in Hungary. It was Halfer who discovered a method for preserving carrageenan, and his methods superseded earlier ones in Europe and the US.

Marbled paper is still made today, and the method is now applied to fabric and three-dimensional surfaces, as well as paper. Aside from continued traditional applications, artists now explore using the method as a kind of painting technique, and as an element in collage. In the last two decades, marbling has been the subject of international symposia and museum exhibitions. An active international group can be found on Yahoo! Groups, as well as the Society of Marbling, an organization of practicing marblers.