This dissertation examines the bibliographical evidence of many copies of Vol. III of Tristram Shandy in order to prepare a case for a critical interpretation of the moral.
The process of marbling is described in detail along with a history of its designs and colours up to the mid-eighteenth century. The uses of marbling and similar patterns are illustrated; these include the prevention of forgery for financial instruments, and decoration in imitation of Italian originals. Sources of marbled papers in England are examined, and a list of marblers is provided, any one of whom might have made the marbled leaves in Tristram Shandy. The time required to make the leaves, and the cost of domestic and imported papers is described in considerable detail. The inspiration for the leaf, including paradigms for the black leaf are listed. A precise, detailed examination of dozens of marbled pages is given. This examination is supplemented by a catalogue of over 100 copies of the novel giving locations, relative colour values, location of size marks, and provenance for copies (where available). There are 115 colour photographs and several drawings to clarify points.
A summary of eighteenth-century and modern comment on the marbled page is provided along with some new conclusions, viz, (1) that the page is full of verbal puns; (2) that it is an anti-counterfeiting device, and (3) that it is an emblem of the book as a whole, which must be read page by page in the first edition in order to elucidate a number of Sterne's jokes. The moral is that one must not be easily deceived.
There are appendices containing parodies of Tristram Shandy, and descriptions of the notebooks of Cosmo Manuche.
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