Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann was born in 1793 in Walpole, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. His famous cousin Horace Mann lived nearby. Horace was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. Horace is thus also known as The Father of American Education.
Daniel's father, Herman, moved the family a few miles up the road to Dedham, a town of fewer than 2,000, in 1797. He and Daniel Poor built a paper mill there. His father also soon took over publishing the local newspaper the Columbian Minerva. This was the first of several he and his family would be involved in. To support his family of ten children Herman worked hard at publishing and printing. In 1809 he started marbling some of his paper.
Daniel's father, Herman, moved the family a few miles up the road to Dedham, a town of fewer than 2,000, in 1797. He and Daniel Poor built a paper mill there. His father also soon took over publishing the local newspaper the Columbian Minerva. This was the first of several he and his family would be involved in. To support his family of ten children Herman worked hard at publishing and printing. In 1809 he started marbling some of his paper.
Paper marbling is a method of aqueous surface design, which can produce patterns like smooth marble or other kinds of stone. The patterns are the result of color floated on either plain water or a viscous solution known as size, and then carefully transferred to an absorbent surface, such as paper or fabric. It is often employed as a writing surface for calligraphy and especially book covers and endpapers in bookbinding and stationery. Part of its appeal is that each print is a unique monotype. It has been used since the 1600s.
How Herman Mann learned this technique is unknown. But he is now credited as the first in America to start this trend.
Daniel's job was to travel Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island getting orders and introduce their marbling method. In 1819 Daniel was in Providence, Rhode Island, working for Oliver Kendall a publisher, bookseller and music seller that did marbling on book edges. His father wrote to him to learn anything new that Kendall might know about doing this that they didn't.
When Daniel went to train Caleb Bartlett in 1823 there was nobody in New York City doing marbling. Marbled paper and book covers were all imported. It wasn't until Daniel's younger brother Franklin went to work for E. Walker & Sons Book Bindery in New York City in the 1840s that marbled items were made in the city. It was located at 114 Fulton near Bartlett's factory.
An 1837 Marbling Demonstration in New York City
Caleb Bartlett was a director of the Mechanics' Institute at this time
Caleb Bartlett was a director of the Mechanics' Institute at this time
The Manns also had a marbling business in Boston. Brothers Samuel & Edward Mann ran that there until 1834 when they moved the business to Dedham. But, they still sold items there through Charles A. Wells at 7 Water Street.