MTSU Book and Printing Arts and History

Book of the Week

Each week, we will post a “Book of the Week” from one of our classes or collections in the Department of Art and Design, or from another collection in Middle Tennessee, or from our travels. This is the first!

This week, in honor of the marbling workshop on Saturday, let us introduce a little French octavo volume. It contains the History of Charles XII by Voltaire and was published in Paris in 1836. We chose this book for its extensive use of marbling: on the covers, end papers, and on the edges. The book is part of the MTSU Art and Design Historical and Teaching Collections.

The endpapers (like the cover) are marbled with a nonpareil pattern, which involves combing the design first vertically and then again horizontally. You can learn this pattern in the upcoming workshop in Todd.