A Closer Look at Paste Papers with Folger Conservators

Decorated papers are a familiar sight in the Folger collection, typically used as embellishment in or on books. Often, we glance at them and think, “Oh, that’s a pretty paper,” before moving on. But what more can we learn from these designs? Have you ever noticed a decorated paper on a volume in our collection and wondered how it was made?

This very question was recently explored by the Folger Conservation and Preservation Team after being inspired by a workshop hosted at the Book and Paper Intensive on Sandgren-style paper bindings. Decorated papers offer material evidence about the tools, techniques, and ingenuity of bookbinders and reveal insights into aesthetic tastes of the book trade. During the early modern period, several paper decoration techniques were in use, all carried out by hand. Marbling is perhaps the most well-known, created by floating pigments on water and transferring the design to paper. Another technique, likely practiced directly in binderies, was paste paper.

Paste papers were especially popular in Germany in the late sixteenth century, though they were created across continental Europe. Some of the earliest paste papers were used for playing cards, but they are most commonly used to cover books or make endpapers. Paste paper offered a practical and cost-effective solution to a material challenge faced by the rapidly expanding binding industry in the early modern period, serving as an affordable means of covering printed works – whether pamphlets or books. Paste papers were created using materials readily available to bookbinders. The paste, made from cooked starch and water, was tinted with pigment and applied to paper. The pasted surface, once wet, could then be manipulated with brushes, combs, stamps, stencils, styluses, or even fingers to create dimensional patterns. The process is very tactile, and you can really see the “hand of the binder” in these decorated papers.

There are several techniques for creating paste paper. One of the simplest was the “pulled” paste paper method. After brushing paste onto the paper, it was either folded onto itself or pressed against another sheet, then pulled apart to reveal a blotchy, often Rorschach-like design. Another popular approach was to take a printing block, object, or roller with a carved design and repeatedly press or roll it on the pasted surface to create a pattern. Common forms of repeated patterns include grids, half-drop (staggered), and vertical, horizontal, or diagonal stripes. In contrast to manipulating the paste already on the paper, this application method could also create a design, such as stippling or splattering. To create the stipple, a brush or sponge would be loaded with paste then pounced on the paper. With spattering, the colored paste is run through a sieve onto the paper below resulting in a fine, speckled appearance. These techniques and others could be layered or combined, resulting in endless variations.

There was no formal “school” of paste paper making, nor instructional manuals, but because the process was relatively simple, it could often be done in-house and ad hoc by bookbinders themselves.

Here are a few other examples from the Folger collection:

Recently, the Conservation Department experimented with making paste papers. We referenced examples in the Folger collection, and our goal was to reverse-engineer the process to better understand how early bookbinders created these distinctive patterns and textures. This was both an informative exercise to enhance our material understanding and a practical one, as it afforded us the opportunity to practice our hand skills. Conservators sometimes need to create paste papers during treatments to replicate original papers. What did we discover? Paste paper is deceptively simple. Although this technique is often considered to be easier than marbling, to achieve consistent, well-balanced designs demands both practice and a keen eye. Through this hands-on experience, we gained a deeper appreciation for the skill and creativity behind paste paper.

Today, paste paper remains a vibrant practice within the paper and book arts community, which we continued in our own way by practicing with paste papers in the lab as part of our ongoing professional development. Although these papers were not originally created as art objects, an informed viewer might come to appreciate a decorated paper much like they would a painting. Next time you come across a decorated paper, especially if it is a paste paper, we hope you’ll take a moment to look more closely and appreciate the intricate details and craftsmanship.

Bibliography:

Boudreau, Dan. “Pasted Pandemonium!” Past is Present: American Antiquarian Society Blog, September 10, 2017. https://pastispresent.org/2017/fun-in-the-archive/pasted-pandemonium/.

Loring, Rosamond B. Decorated book papers being an account of their designs and fashions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard College Library, 1973.

Marks, P.J.M. An anthology of Decorated papers: A sourcebook for designers. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson; in association with the British Library, 2016.

Mowery, Franklin, and Linda Hohneke. “The Valerian and Laura Lada-Mocarski Decorated Paper Collection.” Essay. In Papers and Porcelains: Two Recent Gift Collections, 8–33. Washington, D.C.: Folger Shakespeare Library, 1998.