Robert Estienne (1503-1559) was the second son of printer Henri Estienne. After his father’s death in 1520, he collaborated with his older brother François and Simon de Colines (whose printer’s device we see in another item on display in this…
This title, dating the end of the 19th century, offers the viewer a fine example of “combed” marble. The colours chosen in this example, however, are unusual and demonstrate the limitless creativity that surrounded the manufacturing of marbled paper…
This example shows the “mottled” style of marbling, attempting to reproduce the effect of natural stone, here in a spectacular combination of blue tones. The edges have been gilded and are in remarkable shape.
This collection of poetry from Québec poet, musician and actor Michel Garneau, is printed on loose leaves of paper and illustrated by Maureen Maxwell. All is housed in a leather “case” of a mosaic design, executed by artist Lise Rodrigue. This is…
This image shows a very fine mottling scheme, where the white/cream colours are omnipresent on a background of red and blue. In this example, the dark colours had been deposited on the surface of the liquid mixture before the white. It is this last…
This binding shows a simulated marble effect, which has been styled as “Run or Prusian marble” by 18th century printer and binder James Coghlan in his Memorandum on the bookbinding trade, dating to 1764-65. The effect is generated by black ink and…
A binding of parchment on cardboard, this binding has had its blind-stamped ornamentations coloured black. Its title has also been handwritten in ink on the spine. Note the demi-lune shape of the textblock’s fore-edge: this is a technique typical of…
Many hands and many quills have annotated this work by Jerome de Hangest, a theologian hailing from Compiègne and a contemporary of Erasmus. The marginalias annotation, as is the text itself, are in Latin, which would indicate a certain amount of…
A further example of paste paper where the colour scheme has been generated by the “pulled” technique. In this case, one clearly sees the “pulling” or stretching effect that the glue has undergone in producing this design. Thisexample carries an…
A Venetian, Gabriele Giolito de Ferrari (1508-1578), established a bookstore and printing shop in Venice with his father, named “Liberia del Fenice” (the Phoenix bookstore). As we have seen with other printer’s devices, the mark may illustrate the…