smaller than a breadbox

Marbled Monday

This Marbled Monday we’ve got a real stunner for you—the marbled covers and end sheets of an 8 volume set of The Spectator, which was (according to Wikipedia) “a daily publication founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in England, lasting from 1711 to 1712. Each ‘paper,’ or ‘number,’ was approximately 2,500 words long, and the original run consisted of 555 numbers, beginning on 1 March 1711. These were collected into seven volumes. The paper was revived without the involvement of Steele in 1714, appearing thrice weekly for six months, and these papers when collected formed the eighth volume.” This edition was published in 1856 in Boston by Little, Brown, & Co. 

Each volume features a half binding in tan leather and marbled paper. The same marbled paper was also used at the end sheets for each volume. The marbling is a Turkish pattern, with burnt umber, tan, bright blue, teal blue, and white. There is also a lovely flower detail stamped in gold on the spine of each volume. 

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