Emblem of My Work

Emblem 165

Information and materials

Each sheet of marbled paper is unique. Water based paints are dropped onto a size made from carragheen moss where they expand and float on the surface. With a stylus or comb they can be manipulated into patterns. A sheet of paper, which has been treated with an alum mordant, is then carefully laid over the pattern which immediately transfers. While each sheet of paper varies slightly, with care and skill a good match can be made. It is this variation which gives marbled paper its lively quality.

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Sterne's marbled page, which Sterne described as 'the motly emblem of my work', 169 artists and writers have been invited to design the Emblem of their own work.
Each contributor has generously donated the result to raise funds for the Laurence Sterne Trust.

This blog shows the names of all the contributors and images of the works which can be seen in the Shandy Hall gallery until 31 October 2011. Each Emblem is displayed - but the maker's name is not visible. Each Emblem is for sale by auction and the current bid is displayed underneath each Emblem.

Make sure you see all the Emblems by using the 'Older Posts' button at the bottom of each page.

Any further information will be posted via Twitter @LSterneTrust.

Emblem of my Work

After the success of the first two volumes of Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne was commissioned to produce more. The bookseller who had sold copies of Volumes I and II, James Dodsley, published Sterne's sermons under the title The Sermons of Mr. Yorick in 1760. In January 1761, Volumes III and IV of the novel became available to purchase, so 2011 marks not only the publishing of the volumes but also the 250th anniversary of Sterne's most remarkable literary stroke of genius - the marbled page contained in Volume III.

If you carefully examine page [ 169 ] in Vol. III in the original edition, four fold marks define the edges of the marbling and also create the surrounding margins. The central section of p.169 was laid upon the marbled mixture in order that a coloured impression could be taken as cleanly as possible. It was left to dry and then reverse-folded so the other side of the paper could also receive a marbled impression. This side of the paper became page [170].

So, the marbled page in every copy of Vol. III (in every edition*) is different - each impression being a unique hand-made image.

In the text opposite on p.168, Sterne tells the reader that the next marbled page is the 'motly emblem of my work' - the page communicating visually that his work is endlessly variable, endlessly open to chance.

*contemporary editions have printed marbled pages, the majority in black and white, so the whole point of the multi-coloured marbling is rendered meaningless.

HOW TO BID

Emblem of my Work

Peter Coates - The Marbled Page

The Laurence Sterne Trust