A Digest of Marbled Vellum

Swinging from the brass wheel left my plush joints remarkably limber, but my digestive faculties demanded an overdue midday seminar. Creeping past the cast-iron press, I found a discarded strip of heavy marbling test paper wedged beneath a stack of binder's board. The paper bore swirling combs of rich vermilion and iron-black ink across a sturdy vellum base. Bracing my segmented lower body against the oak shelf, I clamped my jaws onto the patterned deckle edge. The thick rag stock surrendered with a crisp, mineral snap! It released a piquant, ancient flavor of dried ox gall, alum sizing, and toasted linen fibers—an intellectually supreme feast that revitalized my entire literary constitution.