Enlightenment

Laurence Sterne: Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-67)

Famous for teasing his readers, Sterne without explanation interrupts the narrative of his novel with this marbled image (in the 18th century it was normal to find marbled pages at the front and back of a book but not in the middle). As well as taunting his readers with the claim that the mystery of its inclusion would never be solved, Sterne invoked ithe marbled page as a "motly [sic] emblem of my work".

Sterne (Laurence), Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. 8vo. Works, Vol I. London, 1793
[A.17.124]