decorated end papers: seventeenth to twentieth century

       By Decorated Book Papers are meant those sheets intended for the end papers or covers of books but occasionally used as lining papers for boxes and small articles of furniture.

       These papers were printed from woodblocks, made with paste, or marbled. The fifteenth- and sixteenth-century woodblock papers were designed for a specific book cover and were not, as were later woodblock papers, decorative in the sense that they could be used for other purposes. Some seventeenth-century patterns, whose designs were evidently influenced by contemporary leather bindings, could be used for any book or pamphlet; but it was not until the eighteenth century that decorated book papers or a repeated pattern were first printed.

llustration of the marbling tray and tools
 taken from the book School of Arts
(1750) as reproduced in The Art of
 Bookbinding by Joseph Zaehnsdorf
(1890).

       The most striking printed book papers were those made from the early eighteenth century in Nuremberg, Augsburg and Furth and known as Dutch Gilt papers because the Dutch imported them and exported them to the rest of Europe. Almost identical papers were made in Bassano. Dutch Gilt papers are printed from either woodblock or metal plates, the printed pattern usually quite heavily embossed. Two general types may be noted: one in which the design is printed and gilded over a sheet that had been previously covered with one solid color; in the other the block, or plate, is inked with several colors which more or less correspond to the design, these are printed at once on a sheet that had already been gilded. The range of patterns is a wide one with influence of textile design that may be recognized in papers which recall damasks, brocades, and embroidery. But in these the technique of cutting the block or plate has permitted the craftsman to use a finer line and produce a more delicate design than those found in textiles. More closely imitative are those papers which simulate vellum or leather. In these the embossed design creates an almost identical effect as tooling in the leather. And in sheets with a more loosely organized design, figures similar to those used by woodcuts, or for broadsides, can be seen. Though Dutch Gilt papers used these and other sources of design, in execution they were in no way inferior. They were doubtless less expensive than the rich textiles they often imitated, but it must not be thought that they were entirely a poor man's substitute. They were used as end papers in finely bound books and may be found even in royal and Papal bindings.

       These papers were conservative in their use of patterns. A paper will usually be some years later than a textile with a similar pattern. Though fanciful in design, exotic motifs are rare; occasionally a Turk or a Chinese is seen, but not as frequently as might be expected in such a purely decorative art. This may be due to the provincial location of their origin or to the innate conservatism of the craftsman.

Dominoté paper forming the cover 
of a brochure, eighteenth century

       Earlier than the Dutch Gilt but less spectacular are the productions of the dominotiers of France. They were so named from the popular religious pictures, dominos, that in earlier centuries had represented their principal production. They made marbled papers as well as printed sheets. These sheets were used as wall coverings and, in smaller patterns, for books and linings for furniture. They were printed from woodblocks and colored by stencil. As the patterns were widely used and the sheets seldom labeled, identification is usually not possible. Orleans and Paris were the two centers of manufacture. It is often difficult to distinguish between French and Italian printed papers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The most considerable producer of Italian papers was the firm of Remondini, established at Bassano in 1649 and issuing papers until 1861. Some of their blocks are still being used. These papers, quite Venetian in their sumptuous colors, at first were imitative of textiles. Later their design seemed more closely related to that of wall paper, but many were quite unique and even bizarre in their effects. But in general during the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, French and Italian papers no longer attempted to simulate other materials and textures but instead merely drew on patterns used in wall papers, printed textiles, and even lace. This was quite changed in the latter part of the century when the increased use of the machine influenced the production of decorated book covers as it did all the decorative arts. Papers were still eclectic in design but now the imitation of textiles lacked the naivete of earlier efforts and offended by its slickness; cheap paper pretending to be moire is hardly as satisfying, though it may be a closer imitation, as earlier and richer papers.

       At the mid-century, however, impressive papers were still produced. These often seem to be miniature wallpapers, some were flocked and they had a slight touch of the over-extended fantasy so often found in decorative art of the Second Empire. Opposed to these meretriciously machine-made papers of the end of the century some contemporaneous printed book papers reflect a return to medieval simplicity, that bare-handed revolt against the machine. But the popularity of these was limited and they were soon outnumbered by papers glittering with tinsel and color. By this time the variety of end papers was wide; in addition to those just mentioned end papers carrying advertising were used, and pictorial end papers with a subject related to the content of the book. Because of the elaborate machinery involved, printed papers are not as popular with the artist-craftsman of today as are marbled or paste papers. However, since 1920 the Curwen Press of England has commissioned a pleasantly designed series known as St. Albans papers which have been popular as end papers as well as covers.

       Paste papers are almost as old as the block-printed; they originated in the sixteenth century and the same techniques are used today. In some papers the colored paste is applied to the papers and printed with a block cut in relief, and the pattern results from the paste that has been displaced. If the paper is printed with an intaglio-cut block the pattern appears darker and more clearly defined against a lighter ground. In another method the paste is applied to the block, as ink. In another the sheet is not printed but drawn upon with a comb leaving a pattern of parallel lines. These methods may be combined, and rollers, brushes, or sponges, used. Two sheets covered with colored paste may be pressed together and pulled apart to make two "pulled paste" sheets. Because paste papers offer almost maximum flexibility of design and the patterns can be controlled and repeated to a degree not possible in marbling, and elaborate equipment is not necessary, paste papers are popular today for end papers and bindings.

      A marbled paper, unlike a printed one, is unique. Only one sheet can be marbled from the colors which have been floated upon the size. The same colors may be used for another sheet but the design can never be absolutely identical.

Wallpaper - Hyacinth, pattern #480 - 1915-17.
 Morris' Acanthus wallpaper design, (1875, right)

       The art of marbling paper seems to have originated in Persia, probably in the fifteenth century; but it was soon practiced in Turkey and when marbled papers were used in Europe, from the late sixteenth century, they were known as Turkish. Though the variety of marbled patterns is infinite the patterns are classified according to distinct categories. One of the earliest known is a coarsely combed pattern called Old Dutch, and the French Curl, or Snail pattern is almost as old. Spanish marbled papers originated in the seventeenth century; their moire effect is achieved by lowering the paper onto the marbling tray unevenly. The broken effect in Stormont paper is created by adding turpentine to the color. In the early nineteenth century the fine combed patterns known as Nonpareil was first used. These were first made like any other marbled papers but towards the end of the century were made by a machine, the papers being glazed by passing through hot rollers. Nonpareil and similar rather mechanically executed papers were widely used from the middle of the century and well into the twentieth. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the self-consciously artistic Morris papers were first made; they represent the beginning of revival of interest on the possibilities of marbled paper. Today marbled papers, made as they were in the seventeenth century, are as varied in design and excellent in quality as ever in their history. The disciplined patterns which are the invention of Douglas Cockerell represent one contribution of the twentieth century to this art. French, German, and Swedish papers illustrate the widespread present interest in marbling and the excellence of the work done. In some examples marbled papers achieve a fantastic effect, perhaps more to be admired than imitated, never before realized.

       In design paste papers are the most original for they can be said to imitate nothing. The marbled papers' origin is revealed in their name, but marbles as these were never found in nature. Printed papers vary from precise imitations of the texture and pattern of other materials to fantastic sheets that please rather in their originality. The uniqueness of almost every sheet, the variety of design, the consistently high level of craftsmanship and a slightly illusive air of the bizarre constitute the attraction of decorated book papers. But perhaps most worthy of remark is the manner in which this craft, while maintaining its excellences so well developed in previous centuries, continues in our own day to find original and beautiful modes of expression. William Osmun 

A sample of restored marbleized paper.

• Decorative Papers from the Christian Clip Art Review 
• Victorian Digital Scrap Papers from All Victorian Ephemera

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