The entire page is covered in a decorative marbled paper pattern. This is an endpaper, which is a leaf of paper used by a bookbinder to attach the book's contents to its cover. The pattern uses a peacock or fan style of marbling. It consists of repeating and rhythmic scalloped waves of dark and light tones. These appear as black, grey, and white in the digital scan. A rectangular institutional label with a black border is located in the upper left corner.

Marbled paper: A decorative paper created by floating pigments on a liquid surface to create patterns. These patterns are then transferred to paper. It was commonly used for book covers and endpapers in the 18th century.
Shelfmark: A unique code assigned to a book to indicate its physical location on a library shelf. The shelfmark here is XLVII G 4.