The ancient art of paper marbling is used in the binding of books. There is an exhibit underway on this topic until April 20 at Yale’s Beinecke Library.

When you enter the Beinecke, you’ll note the walls are made of panels of veined Vermont marble, thin enough to let the light shine through. This planted the seed for the current paper marbling exhibit.

My guest, Elizabeth Frengel, Curator of Rare Books at the University of Chicago, brought in some samples of marbling seen around the world, a process which was once kept secret.