deckle edge

noun

1. the irregular, untrimmed edge of handmade paper, often used for ornamental effect in fine books and stationery, now often produced artificially on machine-made paper.

deckle edge

noun

1. the rough edge of handmade paper, caused by pulp seeping between the mould and the deckle: often left as ornamentation in fine books and writing papers

2. a trimmed edge imitating this

Other Word Forms

• deckle-edged adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of deckle edge¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

There’s a man’s face and a woman’s head and shoulders, inked on to what at first looks like vellum, with deckle edges like an old book.

Read more on The Guardian

It was a simple black journal with leather front and back covers, and pages with a deckle edge.

Read more on Literature

And she'd have stationery made—blue with a deckle edge, her name and fancy address in swirling type across the top: Grace Windsor Wexler, Sunset Towers on the Lake Shore.

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Their publicity material warmly extols their “French flaps,” “deckle edge” and “handy, giftable trim size.”

Read more on New York Times

Some editions can command higher prices, like the $35 list price of a new translation of "The Iliad" by Stephen Mitchell that has a red silk placeholder, deckle edges, embossing and an extra-heavy paper stock.

Read more on Seattle Times