"The art of marbling (or marbleizing) was started in the 1100's, either in Turkey or Persia, though the earliest marbled papers still in existence are Turkish ones from the 1400's. They were used for decorative purposes, and also as a background for official documents and signatures, to prevent erasure and forgery. The art was taken to Western Europe by the crusaders, and by the 1600's, France and the Netherlands had become well known for the quality of their papers. Their marbling became an essential part of bookbinding, with the papers being placed on the inside covers of all fine books, which is still one of the main uses of marbling today. The intricate patterns of the papers were used to cover the folds, strings, and glue marks of the bindings, and also to serve as an aesthetic transition from the dark leather covers to the white pages inside. The marblers' guilds were separate from the bookbinders' guilds, who were forever spying on the marblers, trying to discover the techniques of marbling to avoid the high cost of their papers. So for centuries, the marblers often had to do their work at night in secret laboratories, behind locked doors, and hardly anyone could hope to learn the art unless he was born into a marbling family. Even then, most apprentices weren't trusted with all the marbling formulasuntil they were into their 30's or 40's. " 

"As populations grew and became more educated, books were printed in ever larger mass quantities and also became cheaper, which inevitably meant fine bindings and marbled endpapers would soon become a thing of the past. By the 1890's, the art was considered quaint and old-fashioned, and was actually on the verge of death. At last a few of the remaining marblers started publishing their precious centuries-old family marbling methods and formulas, lest they be lost for all time. (Yes, these were the books I had to learn from.) And now, suddenly, 100 years later, (because of those of us who hung in there and taught the rest of the world), there are 
more practitioners of this beautiful art than ever before in history, though there are still very few who make a full-time living at it; most people do it at home as a hobby. There have actually been several International Marblers' Gatherings in the past decade, mostly in the U.S., though the last one was held in the summer of 1997 in Istanbul, Turkey, where it all started and where it never really died out -- a few wonderful marblers still work there using the ancient handed-down formulas.  " 

History of suminagashi

© Beth LaCour 2001-2003