Tree Calf Marbling

A decoration applied to paper that can be used as endpapers cover papers and book edges.

Tree calf marbling.

Tree calf stained by an interaction of copperas and pearl ash to produce a dark pattern along theboards. Using my handy phone torch in lieu of light sheet i found these fleur de lis watermarks at the gutter and on the edges of the pages. Marble calf bindings reached great popularity during the nineteenth century. To tree marble calf on the skin for half bindings the skin is prepared by paste washing colouring and glairing as done on the book the skin is then laid upon a board the board being slightly elevated at one end water is then thrown on evenly all over and sprinkled.

Marble calf should not be confused with marbling the process of using color inks or paints to create decorative patterns on a variety of surfaces including leather paper and cloth. A highly polished calf binding that originated in the late 18 th century in which the leather has been stained to produce a dark tree like pattern along the front and rear boards. Sheets of paper to be marbled are washed with alum water which acts as a mordant for the colors allow to dry slightly then floated on the. A trough is filled with a carragheen moss or gum tragacanth solution and on its surface is floated special watercolors plus ox gall which acts as a.

The trunk of the tree is produced in the bottom of the trough. Tree marbling was made popular during the early 1800s with the earliest known tree binding dating back to 1775. The common marble was used on many books and the picture on the following page gives an example of this type of marble. The large bookbinding companies such as w t.

One special variation of this technique is known as tree calf named for the visual image created on the surface of the leather of a tree trunk and spreading branches. However this article is not about tree calf marbling rather about discovery. Tree calf tree marble a form of cover decoration consisting of a smooth light colored calfskin treated with chemicals insuch a manner as to represent a tree trunk withbranches. Morocco made of goatskin and often dyed in strong bold colors morocco bindings are known for both their beauty and durability.

Pre dating tree marbling were several other types of marbled calf that employed similar techniques that of throwing water on to the covers and as the water ran down the cover other solutions were thrown on to form veins. Marbling in bookbinding a process of coloring the sides edges or end papers of a book in a design that suggests the veins and mottles of marble. Lesley had been completely entranced by a travel guide to syria and egypt printed in 1788. The leather isfirst paste washed and the book is then hungbetween two rods which keep the covers flat.

In the usual manner a dual designappears on upper and lower covers. Morrell s still commercially undertaking these commissions up until the 1970s. Morrell sons and zaehnsdorf produced tree calf bindings with w. Depending on the pattern of marbling required the dots and circles of color are combed or drawn into.