Blue Leather Books with Marbled Covers and Gilt Tooling
You must be a subscriber, and be logged in to view price and dealer details.
Subscribe Now to view actual auction price for this item
When you subscribe, you have the option of setting the currency in which to display prices to $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.
- Marbling - A descriptive term for a finish applied to plastic, ceramics, glass, plaster or wood to imitate the colours and characteristic markings of various marble types. For moulded items such as the first three above, the marbling is within the item.
Interiors and furniture were marbled from from the early 17th century to the late Victorian period. The craft was practiced by skilled decorators using a combination of brushes and sponges. Some of the finishes achieved were so realistic as to make it difficult to distinguish the marbled surface from the marble surface.
Marbling is also a term applied to a finish for paper as often seen in the front and endpapers of old books. The marbling is achieved by floating the colours on water and then transferring them to paper. However the marbling finish on paper, as with the marbling finish on plastics, with its multitude of colours has little resemblance to naturally occurring marble.
This item has been included into following indexes:
Visually similar items
Seven brown leather spine volumes with green cloth covers and gilt tooling by William Makepeace Thackeray. London 1900 (7)
Mining diary circa 1870s of South African born prospector Edwin Bray. Fascinating handwritten accounts of daily life prospecting in South Africa. With accompanying carte de visite.
Cedar book form games box. Inlaid chessboard marquetry to lid. Some losses, parts available. Length 32 cm
Wang Hing miniature box, Chinese export silver chased with cherry blossoms, approx 6 cm x 4 cm, circa 1900