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Title: Paper & paper making
ancient and modern
Author: Richard Herring
Contributor: George Croly
Release Date: March 21, 2023 [eBook #70338]
Language: English
Produced by: John Campbell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAPER & PAPER MAKING ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
There are two instances of the letter c with a macron. Using the
Unicode combining diacritical, this will display on this device
as c̄.
The terms table and tablet (a small table) are used in reference to
ancient writing surfaces.
The term size as used in this book often refers to glutinous material
used in the paper-making process to make the paper surface smoother.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
[Illustration: THE PAPER MAKING MACHINE.]
PAPER & PAPER MAKING,
ANCIENT AND MODERN.
BY
RICHARD HERRING:
WITH
AN INTRODUCTION,
BY THE
REV. GEORGE CROLY, LL. D.
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1855.
W. DEWICK, PRINTER, BARBICAN.
TO THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE
SIR FRANCIS GRAHAM MOON, BARONET,
LORD MAYOR OF LONDON:
THIS WORK,
WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF RESPECT AND ESTEEM,
IS DEDICATED;
BY HIS LORDSHIP’S
OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PREFACE VII
INTRODUCTION ix
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—Language—Origin of the Art of Writing—Various modes
of recording events which preceded it—Materials upon which
men first Wrote—Stones, Bricks, Metals, Skins and Intestines
of Animals, Tablets, Leaves, Bark, etc., etc.—The Egyptian
Papyrus, from which Paper (so called) was first made—Process
of Manufacture—Usual dimensions and extreme durability of
Papyri—Modern Paper—Its general advantages to mankind—Supposed
period of its Invention—The Introduction of Paper-making
into Europe—Historical incidents connected therewith—James
Whatman—The superiority of his manufacture—Adoption of the
Fourdrinier-Machine—General advantages of Machinery over the
Original Process, etc., etc. 1
CHAPTER II.
On the Materials employed in the Formation of Paper—Method of
Preparation—Processes of Comminution, Washing, Bleaching, etc.
described—Paper-making by Hand—Paper-making Machine—Sizing
Apparatus—Cutting-Machine, etc. explained—General Observations
on what are termed Water-Marks—Manner of effecting the
same—Importance frequently attached to them—Ireland’s Fabrication
of the Shakspeare MSS.—Difficulty in procuring suitable Paper
for the purpose—On the perfection to which Water-Marks have now
attained, especially with reference to the production of Light
and Shade, as seen in the New Bank Note, etc., etc. 49
CHAPTER III.
Anecdote of an over-curious enquirer—Its probable application
to many readers—Paper Making, when straightforward, extremely
simple, but ordinarily involving considerable chemical and
practical skill—Brief review of artificial aids—Anecdotes of
the deleterious effects of bleaching, and of imparting colour
to the “stuff”—Ultramarine, its use and abuse—Manufactured
Paper, its varieties and peculiarities—Excise Regulations—Paper
Duty—Conclusion. 91
PREFACE.
The present work is founded upon Lectures recently delivered at the
London Institution.
The subject of Paper and Paper Making is one which has been at all
times regarded with considerable interest, independently of that
attention to it which commercial pursuits, of necessity, demand.
The confidence, however, which originally prompted me to treat the
subject, has, been in no slight degree, augmented by the advantage
which I possess in the experience of my father, extending over a
period of nearly half a century.
In the illustration of the Lectures, (which here stand as CHAPTERS
1 and 2),—the syllabus furnished by the London Institution being
retained as a heading in each instance—I have the pleasing duty to
acknowledge myself much indebted to the kind assistance of many
friends in connection with the Royal Asiatic Society, the Hon.
East India Company, the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, the London
Missionary Museum, and the Bank of England.
So far as it has been found practicable to illustrate the present
work, no effort has been spared, and in order to sustain the interest
which was so strikingly exhibited at the delivery of the Lectures—the
remembrance of which throughout life will be to me a constant source
of gratification;—I have appended, amongst other specimens, a sheet
manufactured from the same mould as I then employed.
R. H.
WALBROOK, APRIL, 1855.
INTRODUCTION.
BY THE REV. GEORGE CROLY, LL. D.
Having been present at the delivery of these Lectures, and feeling
an interest in them, as the performance of my intelligent friend,
and parishioner, Mr. Herring, I have added, at his request, a few
preliminary observations, on the chief employment of paper in our
day, namely, in PRINTING.
It is a striking, and perhaps a significant, coincidence, that the
art of making paper from linen fibre, and the art of printing, were
discovered nearly at the same time, and were coeval with the first
preaching of the Reformation; by Huss and Jerome of Prague, of whom
Luther was only the more eminent successor—the whole three events
dating from the fifteenth century.
It is certain, that printing was the great instrument of the
Reformation in Germany, and of spreading it through Europe; and it is
equally certain, that the making of paper, by means of the cotton
or flaxen fibre, supplied the only material, which has been found
extensively available for printing. Whether this coincidence was
simply accidental, or was the effect of that high arrangement for
high purposes, which we so often find in the history of Providence,
may be left to the consideration of the Christian.
But, it is evident, that if printing had been invented in any of
the earlier ages, it would have been comparatively thrown away. The
Chinese bark of the bamboo, or the rice straw; the Egyptian papyrus,
and the Greek or Roman parchment, would have been too feeble, or
too expensive, for the rapid demands of the Press. But, at the
exact period, when Printing was given to the world, the fabric was
also given, which was to meet the broadest exigency of that most
illustrious invention.
That the Chinese, in ages almost beyond history, had made paper of
cotton, and even of hemp; and that the Arabians either borrowed, or
invented, the manufacture, in the eighth century, is known. But, the
discovery perished for want of the Press; as the Press would have
perished for want of the vigour, yet to be created in every faculty
of human advance, by the Reformation.
It should not be forgotten, that the _first_ printed works were
religious; as the “Biblia Pauperum,” a small folio, of forty leaves,
each with a picture, and a text of Scripture under it; and the
“Speculum humanæ Salvationis,” a similar work of pictures and texts,
in Latin; and that the last, and noblest, achievement of Printing,
has been the renewed publication of the Gospel, in nearly every
language of the globe!
The actual origin of Printing has been matter of learned controversy.
From the earliest ages, impressions had been taken from seals.
There are in the British Museum blocks of lead, impressed with the
name or stamp of the Roman authorities. The Chinese, who seem to
have had a glimpse of every invention of Europe, produced blocks of
wood-engraving, with which they multiplied copies, by impression at
least, so early as the tenth century; and even appear to have applied
it to a species of bank note. Whether the invention was introduced
into Europe by Marco Polo, (who visited China in the thirteenth
century), or by others, it is known, that printed playing cards and
devotional tracts, (though of the simplest structure, generally a
single page), were not infrequent, from the year A.D. 1400. Still,
the operation was so expensive, and, also, so insufficient, that the
Art of Printing cannot be said, to have been yet discovered. For this
discovery, the essential was the use of _moveable types_.
The honour of this most simple, yet most comprehensive, change, has
been warmly disputed by Holland, and Germany. But, though Coster, a
Hollander, adopted it early; general opinion gives it to Gutenburg, a
printer at Strasburg, between 1436 and 1442. Gutenburg was originally
a block-printer; at length the fortunate idea occurred to him,
of getting rid of the solid page, and making his types separate;
those, in the first instance, were cut out of wood. Returning to
Mayence, his native city, a partnership with Faust supplied him with
capital. Faust made a second step in the mechanical portion of the
art, by casting the types in metal. A subsequent partnership with
Schoeffer, Faust’s son-in-law, supplied all that was wanting to
the art, in his invention of the Punch for making the types. The
partners subsequently quarrelled, and Gutenburg, in 1458, formed a
new establishment in Mayence. The storming of the city by Adolphus
of Nassau, in 1462, dispersed the workmen, and thus spread the art
through Europe. It was thenceforth practised in Italy, in France, in
Spain, and in England, (at Westminster, in 1475.)
The _Cologne Chronicle_, printed in 1474, states, that the first
large volume produced by printing, was the Bible, (an edition of the
Vulgate,) a work which cost a preparation of ten years. This edition
is without date, or printer’s name, but is supposed to have been
completed in 1455.
In an age, when the European mind was only emerging from a thousand
years of darkness, everything was tinged with superstition.
The _printing_ of the Bible shared the general charge; and the
comparative cheapness, and still more, the singular fidelity of the
copies to each other, were attributed to sorcery. Faust, who probably
had no objection to a report, by which so much was to be gained,
and which was favoured by the absence of date and name; has since
been made the hero of German mysticism; and is immortalized, as the
philosopher, and master of magic, in the celebrated poem of Goethe.
The Newspaper, the most influential of all human works, is the
_creation_ of Printing. It is to the honour of England, that in
this country, it approaches nearest to excellence, in intellectual
vigour, in variety of knowledge, in extent of information, and in
patriotic principle. It has, like all the works of man, occasional
imperfections, and perhaps among the most prominent, are its too
minute details of offences against public purity. But, there is
scarcely a newspaper in this age, which would not have been regarded
as a triumph of ability, in the last. In fact, the newspaper of
England is the great practical teacher of the people. Its constant
and universal teaching alone accounts for the superior intelligence
of the population. Schools, lecture-rooms, and universities,
important as they all are, altogether fall behind it in public
effect, or find, that to retain their influence, they must follow
its steps. Those steps may now and then turn from the right road, but
their native tendency is, forwards and upwards! This intellectual
giant always advances, and carries the country with him to a height,
which no other country, ancient or modern, ever attained, or perhaps,
ever hoped to attain.
I speak of this form of publication, in no literary favoritism; but,
as a great instrument, offered to nations for the safety, the speed,
and the security of national progress; an intellectual railroad,
given to our era, to meet the increased exigencies of intellectual
intercourse; and equal to any weight, and any rapidity.
The most hopeless feature of foreign governments appears to me, their
hostility to the _press_. Thus, they prohibit the mental air and
exercise, which would rectify the “peccant humours” of their people;
thus, they aggravate popular stagnation into political disease; thus,
casual passion is darkened into conspiracy, and passing disgust is
compressed into rebellion.
England has her ill-humours, but the press ventilates them away; the
vapours are not suffered to lie on the ground, until they condense
into malaria. There may be folly, and even faction, among us, and the
press may be the trumpet of both; but, the width of the area is the
remedy. A _whole_ nation is always right. No sound can stir it, but
the sound which is in accord with its own feelings; the trumpet which
is overwhelming within four walls, is unheard at the horizon!
If, in an age of foreign convulsion, England has undergone no
catastrophe; if, in the fall of monarchies, she has preserved her
hereditary throne; if, in the mingled infidelity and superstition
of the Continent, which, like the mingled frenzy and fetters of a
lunatic hospital, have, in our day, exhibited the lowest humiliation
of human nature; she has preserved her freedom and her religion; I
attribute all, under God, to the vigour, and intelligence of public
investigation; the incessant urgency of appeal to the public mind;
the living organization, of which the heart is the PRESS of England!
PAPER AND PAPER MAKING,
ANCIENT AND MODERN.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction—Language—Origin of the Art of Writing—Various modes
of recording events which preceded it—Materials upon which
Men first Wrote—Stones, Bricks, Metals, Skins and Intestines
of Animals, Tablets, Leaves, Bark, etc., etc.—The Egyptian
Papyrus, from which Paper (so called) was first made—Process
of Manufacture—Usual dimensions and extreme durability of
Papyri—Modern Paper—Its general advantages to mankind—Supposed
period of its Invention—The Introduction of Paper-making
into Europe—Historical incidents connected therewith—James
Whatman—The superiority of his manufacture—Adoption of the
Fourdrinier-Machine—General advantages of Machinery over the
Original Process, etc., etc.
Amongst the numerous and diversified objects of human investigation
and research, it would, perhaps, be difficult to single out one, more
curious and interesting, than that of the medium which bears the
symbols of language; which retains the register of circumstances and
events of past ages, and which hands down to us the transactions of
primeval time, with its intervening periods.
Undoubtedly the noblest acquisition of mankind, perhaps the greatest
advantage which we possess, is that of the faculty of speech.
Without speech, man, in the midst of crowds, would be solitary. The
endearments of friendship, and the communications of wisdom, alike
would become unavailing; man, in fact, without speech, could hardly
be accounted a rational being.
That the use of speech or language was given to Adam immediately upon
his formation, we have no reason to doubt; for from the testimony
of Moses it appears, that he not only gave names to every living
creature, “to every beast of the field, and to every fowl of the
air,” as they were brought to him, but that also as soon as Eve was
made he could say—“This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my
flesh,” the first sentence which is recorded of his uttering, and
which is sufficient to show, that even then, he possessed a competent
stock of words to declare the ideas or conceptions of his mind.
Thus was man at once rendered as superior to the brute creation, as
in after times by the aid of writing, or the art of drawing those
ideas into vision, he was especially distinguished from the condition
of uncivilized savages. For of all the arts that contribute to the
comfort and happiness of mankind, no one, perhaps, is more intimately
connected with our social habits, or more closely entwined with the
best and purest feelings of our nature, than that of writing. And yet
to conceive or to account for the origin of an art so invaluable in
its tendency to elevate and improve mankind, as that of exhibiting to
sight the various conceptions of the mind, which have no corporeal
forms, by means of hieroglyphics or legible characters, is still as
difficult and perplexing, as in past ages it has ever proved to the
sagacity of mankind. With the poet of old we have yet to enquire—
“Whence did the wondrous mystic art arise,
Of painting speech, and speaking to the eyes?
That we by tracing magic lines are taught
How to embody, and to colour thought.”
Notwithstanding the great and manifold blessings which men have
received from this curious and wonderful invention, it is very
remarkable, as a distinguished writer observes, that writing, which
gives a sort of immortality to all other things, should, by the
disposal of Divine Providence, be without any trace of the memory
of its first founders. Indeed, the invention of letters and their
various combinations in forming words, amounting, it is computed, to
620,448,401,733,239,439,360,000, without repeating any combination
capable of being made from so small a number of letters as that now
comprising our alphabet, has something so extremely ingenious and
surprising in its application, that most men who have treated the
subject, can hardly forbear attributing it to a divine original.
Many have conceived that the theatre of this important legacy to
man was Mount Sinai. But it is observable, that previously to the
arrival of the Israelites at Mount Sinai, Scripture makes mention of
writing as an art already understood by Moses: “And the Lord said
unto Moses, _write_ this for a memorial.” (Exodus, 17th ch. 14th v.)
Now, Moses seems to have expressed no difficulty of comprehension
when he received this command, nor does anything appear to induce
the slightest doubt; on the contrary, I think we may safely conclude
that Moses was even then well acquainted with the art of writing, or
otherwise he would have been instructed by God, as in the case of
Noah, when he was required to build the Ark. And further, we find
that Moses wrote all the words, and all the judgments of the Lord,
contained in the twenty-first and two following chapters of the
Book of Exodus, before the two written tables of stone were even so
much as promised. The delivery of the tables is not mentioned till
the 18th verse of the 31st chapter, after God had made an end of
communing with him upon the mount. Nevertheless, I am not prepared to
dispute the probability of a divine origin to so wonderful a medium,
any more than I am disposed to question the possibility of its
resulting merely from what Aristotle terms the Faculty of Imitation;
for which, says he, men are so remarkable, even in an uncivilized
state. I pass by all questions of the kind, satisfied for the present
with the simple fact, that such medium does exist; that through it
we become, as it were, introduced to the multitudinous throng of a
world’s tenantry, while we thus learn their words, works, and ways,
their History, Literature, and Arts, their Science, and Theology; and
while even the mummy, recovered from the subterranean recesses of the
Egyptian pyramids, may still be said to talk with us, by virtue of
the roll of papyrus and its pictured inscription which he holds in
his hand;
Writing’s art, which like a sovereign queen,
Amongst her subject sciences is seen;
As she in dignity the rest transcends,
So far her power of good, and harm extends.
In the earliest ages of mankind, very simple means were necessarily
adopted, to preserve the remembrance of any important event. During
many centuries, tradition, perhaps solely, served to represent that,
which in recent times has been more completely effected by the
introduction of printing.
At other periods we find trees were planted, heaps of stones,
altars or pillars, as we read in sacred history, were erected; and
even games and festivals ordered, to keep up the recollection of
important facts. Since, however, the art of writing was invented
(be the period when it may), various materials have from time to
time been made use of, for the purpose of transmitting to posterity
the discoveries and deeds of their ancestors. Thus, for instance,
the most ancient remains of writing which have been handed down to
us, are upon hard substances, such as bricks, stones, and metals,
which were used by the ancients for all matters of public notoriety;
abundant proofs of which we have in the recent discoveries of
Mr. Layard. And Josephus, in the third chapter of the first book
of Jewish Antiquities, tells us: that, “the descendants of Seth,
leading a happy and quiet life, found out by study and observation
the motions and distribution, or order, of the heavenly bodies; and,
that their discoveries might not be lost to men (knowing that the
destruction of the world had been foretold by Adam, which should be
once by fire, and once by water,) they made two pillars—one of brick,
and the other of stone, and wrote or engraved their discoveries
thereon; so that if the rains should destroy that of brick, the other
of stone might continue to show mankind their observations.”
In the sacred text we are further informed, that great stones were
directed to be set up by the children of Israel, after the passage
of the Jordan, and being “plastered with plaster,”—which appears
to have been a very common practice—“thereon were to be written all
the words of the law very plainly.” In the book of Job, which some
suppose to have been written by Moses, we have an obscure intimation
of the method employed in registering upon the rock, “graven with
an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever.” But, although there is
apparently a want of clearness in our translation of the passage, by
no means does it affect the idea of Job’s desire to give the greatest
possible permanence to the words he then uttered. He exclaims, “Oh
that my words were now written,” or, (though probably not an exact
translation,) “Oh that they were printed in a book;” and more (he
adds) “that they were even graven with an iron pen and lead in the
rock for ever;” which latter clause some take to be in reference to
the leaden tablets which are found to have been in very early use.
But I rather favour the interpretation, for which I am indebted, to
my much esteemed friend the Rev. Dr. Croly; that as a still more
indelible and effectual mode of perpetuating his thoughts, it was
Job’s conception that his words should be graven in the rock with an
iron pen, or tool, and the interstices afterwards filled with lead,
in order that the contrast occasioned thereby might render them the
more readily intelligible to those who happened to travel that way.
Herodotus also mentions a letter engraven on plates of stone, which
Themistocles, the Athenian general, sent to the Ionians, about five
hundred years before the birth of Christ. Lead, however, and similar
metals being less difficult to write upon, and more simple and
convenient, afterwards superseded to a great extent the use of such
unwieldy substances as bricks and stone. And subsequently we find
others of a still more pliable texture employed, such as the skins of
animals, bark, wood, and the leaves of trees. Solomon, for instance,
in the Book of Proverbs, in allusion to the practice of writing upon
thin slices of wood, advises his son to write his precepts upon
the _tables_ of his heart. And the prophet Habakkuk was commanded
to write a vision and make it plain upon _tables_, that he may run
that readeth it. Solomon, as you are aware, lived a thousand years,
and Habakkuk about six hundred and twenty six, before the Christian
era. At a later period, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist,
when enquired of as to what he would have his child called, asked,
we are told, for “a _writing table_, and wrote, saying, his name is
John.” Amongst the Romans, it was customary for the public affairs
of every year to be committed to writing by the high priest, and
published on a table; such tables being exposed to view, either in
their market-places or temples, in order that the people might have
an opportunity of becoming acquainted with their contents.
At an early period in their history, both Greeks and Romans appear
to have commonly used either those plain wooden boards, or boards
covered with wax. It is probable, that at first the tables were
written upon just as they were planed, and that the overlaying
them with wax was an improvement on that invention. A very decided
advantage being thus obtained, in the facility afforded for erasing
any inaccuracies that might have occurred, and consequently of
correcting the manuscript. The practice of writing upon tablets of
one kind or another, appears not to have been entirely laid aside,
until the commencement of the fourteenth century; and, indeed, even
in our day, tablet books of ivory are occasionally used, for writing
upon with black lead pencils.
The use of _boards_ was in some measure superseded by that of the
leaves of palm, olive, poplar, and other trees. And, although in
Europe, all these disappeared upon the introduction of the papyrus
and parchments, in some countries the use of them remains even to
this day. Perhaps a record of this old custom may still be found in
the word _leaf_, which we continue to apply to sheets of paper, when
sewed up into the form of a book. According to the account of Pliny,
the Egyptians were the first to use the palm leaf, and books written
on it are still preserved in the East India Museum, as also in the
Library of the British Museum.
The mode of preparation, after cutting into strips of the length and
width required, is simply to soak them for a short time in boiling
water, after which they are rubbed backwards and forwards over a
smooth piece of wood to make them pliable, and then carefully dried.
The letters or characters being written or rather engraved thereon
with an iron style, which, piercing the outside covering, makes
indelible letters; and by afterwards rubbing the writing over with
some dark coloured substance, such as soot or charcoal, the parts
etched or scratched, have greater relief imparted to them: and the
writing is more easily read.
Notwithstanding many paper mills have been erected in India, the
natives, I understand, frequently prefer this method, not only for
the ordinary purposes of correspondence and accounts, but even in
some quarters for government documents of importance.
I must here express my sense of the kind assistance which has on
several occasions been afforded me by the Rev. Benjamin Bailey, late
of Cottyam, Allepie, Madras, who has not only given to the world a
translation in Malayalim of the entire Bible, but has also compiled
two voluminous dictionaries, for rendering assistance in the study of
that language. This gentleman has recently afforded me an opportunity
of inspecting many great curiosities of the kind: indeed, before me
is now lying a very neat little specimen written in Malayalim by him
(St. Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy), which shows, in a remarkable
degree, the astonishing distinctness which may be produced by this
singular mode of writing.
The style with which the letters are engraven upon the leaf is
usually worn in the girdle as a prominent ornament of dress. The
case which protects it containing also a small knife, employed in
preparing the slips, and likewise a little instrument which is used
for piercing the leaves, in order that cords may be passed through
them for the purpose of securing the manuscript, as may be seen in
the instance of various documents both in the East India Company’s
Museum, and also in the Library of the British Museum.
A work which I possess, termed the _Kammavakyam_, written in the
Pali language, in Burmese character, upon palm leaf, is thus secured
between very handsome covers. It is a Catechism of Sacred Rites, used
by the Buddhist priesthood in the examination of a candidate for
admission to that order. A translation of it here, however, would be
no more consistent in point of matter contained, than it would be in
reference to the subject I am treating. Its character and language
throughout are truly humiliating to human nature.
In the British Museum there are many very singular documents of the
kind, one in particular, which is written upon 390 leaves, bound, as
it were, in a frame of gilt copper in the form of a tortoise, screws
being passed through the strips instead of cords, the fastenings,
with some addition, representing the limbs of the animal. And in
the East India Museum may be seen a smaller one, protected by stout
wooden covers, which has been carved to represent some animal,
apparently a pig. The custom of writing upon leaves of trees, appears
to have given rise to the adoption also of the interior bark; the
outer being seldom made use of, in consequence of its extreme
coarseness. When employed, it is customarily folded over, to admit of
its being written upon both sides. The only documents of this kind,
which have come under my notice, have been Batta manuscripts, from
the island of Sumatra.
Before the art of making paper was known to the Chinese, they appear
to have cut pieces of silk to such sizes as they wished to make their
books, and thereupon painted the letters with pencils; the silk being
first steeped in a kind of size, to prevent the colour from running.
But such material being liable to decay, various animal substances
were afterwards employed, as being of a more durable nature. Of
course the skins were principally used, after being tanned; but
their bones, and even entrails, were also made use of for the like
purpose. Thus, in the “History of Mahomet,” we read that the Arabians
used the shoulder bones of sheep, on which they carved remarkable
events with a knife, when, after tying them with a string, they hung
those chronicles up in their cabinets. And in the library of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, which is said to have contained 700,000 volumes, were
the works of Homer, written in golden letters, on the skins of
serpents. I might mention, that the term volume here, should not be
understood in the sense which it is now customary to receive it, but
in its derivation from the Latin; signifying simply a roll, which was
the most ancient form of book.
Parchment, or the skins of beasts, dressed and prepared in a manner
rendering them fit for writing upon, appears to have been employed
at a very early period. Diodorus Siculus informs us, that the
Persians of old wrote all their records on skins; and Herodotus also
alludes to sheep skins, and goat skins, as in general use among
the Ionians about 440 years before the Christian Era. The word
Parchment is a corruption of the Latin _Pergamena_, from _Pergamus_,
which some allege to have been the place of its invention. But
it is very probable that in the time of Eumenes, who was king
of Pergamus, (about 200 years before Christ,) the circumstance
of increased consumption merely occasioned the discovery of a
better method of dressing the skins; from which fact alone, and
perhaps with sufficient reason, the origin of the present term was
derived. Eumenes, about that period, appears to have endeavoured to
form a library at Pergamus, which should surpass that of Ptolemy
Philadelphus at Alexandria, and in so doing enraged Ptolemy to that
degree, that he immediately prohibited any further exportation from
Egypt, of the papyrus which by that time was coming into very general
use, and thus effectually put a stop to Eumenes’ emulation in that
particular. It may be, however, that this prohibition was not solely
occasioned by jealousy, but by Ptolemy’s fearing that his dominions,
which were so much improved in arts, sciences, and civilization,
since the discovery and adoption of the papyrus, (of which we shall
presently speak), would be again reduced to a state of ignorance for
want of it; the plant sometimes failing in unfavourable weather,
while the supply invariably proved unequal to the demand. The
people of Pergamus, therefore, were obliged to devise other means,
and the improved manufacture of parchment would seem to have been
the result. But, that Eumenes on this occasion invented the art of
making parchment is exceedingly dubious; for in the books of Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other parts of Scripture, we find mention made
of rolls of writing: in all probability rolls of parchment.
The manner of reading such rolls may be gathered from a passage
extracted from Hartley’s “Travels in Greece,” which serves also to
elucidate the peculiar scriptural expression of their being “written
within and without.” You began, (says he) to read by unfolding, and
you continued to read and to unfold, till, at last, you arrived
at the stick to which the roll was attached; then you turned the
parchment round, and continued to read on the other side of the roll,
folding it gradually up until you completed the writing, thus were
they “written within and without.”
Papyrus, from which the term paper was derived, is the name of a
celebrated plant, once extensively used by the Egyptians for making
various articles of utility, such as baskets, shoes, cordage, and
the like. Some writers state that of this plant the little ark was
made, in which the parents of Moses exposed him upon the banks
of the Nile, and of this it was that the most ancient paper was
manufactured. Not as would now be customary, by first reducing it to
a pulp, nor, indeed, in any way as resembling modern paper, except
that in both, vegetable fibre is the basis. That a plant once so
useful, and for ages in Egypt so commercially valuable, should have
totally disappeared, being altogether unknown to modern botanists,
appears scarcely credible; yet so it is. For the ancient descriptions
of the papyrus, as a flag or bulrush, with a triangular stem that
could barely be spanned, and which grew to the height of ten feet,
or even considerably more, in the immense marshes occupying a large
part of the surface of lower Egypt; a leafless wood, as it were, or
as one writer describes it, a forest without branches, the bare stem
being surmounted only by a head of long, thin, straight fibres, is
certainly quite irreconcilable with the nature of the plant which
now bears that name, and of which one of the stoutest growth has been
very kindly furnished me by Sir W. J. Hooker, from the Royal Gardens
at Kew.
In the prophecy of Isaiah a very remarkable prediction occurs with
reference to this plant. “The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth
of the brooks, and everything sown by the brooks, shall wither, be
driven away, and be no more.” Doubtless, we may believe that this
prophecy has literally received its fulfilment.
With reference to the mode in which the paper was manufactured from
this plant, two distinct opinions have been handed down to us. One,
that the epidermis being removed, the spongy part was cut into thin
slices, which were steeped in the waters of the Nile, or in water
slightly imbued with gum; after which two layers were placed one
above another, carefully arranged in contrary directions, that is,
lengthwise and breadthwise, which, after being dried, were finally
smoothed and brought to a fit surface for receiving writing, by being
rubbed with a tooth or piece of polished ivory.
Another method said to have been adopted in preparing this material,
was simply that of separating the thin concentric coats, or pellicles
of the plant which surrounded the stock, by means of a needle or
pointed shell (on an average about twenty from each stalk), and
afterwards extending them longitudinally side by side on a table,
a similar layer being placed across them at right angles; in which
state they were moistened with water, and while wet put under
pressure, being afterwards exposed to the rays of the sun, and
finally polished as in the former case, with some hard substance,
such as a tooth or shell, not merely for the purpose of improving
the surface, but to prevent its absorbing the ink. The saccharine
matter with which the whole juice of the plant is said to have been
impregnated, being usually sufficient to cause the adhesion of the
strips together.
So great was the importance of this manufacture at some periods, that
Gibbon informs us of one Firmus, who raised the standard of revolt in
Egypt against the Emperor Aurelian; that he boasted he would maintain
an army solely from the profits of his paper trade. At another time,
in the reign of Tiberius, there happened such a scarcity of paper,
from causes that are not mentioned, that the Senate, in order to
prevent a riot, were obliged to appoint commissioners to distribute
paper to the applicants according to their respective demands.
Papyri vary much more in length than in breadth, and upon this fact
I would dwell, as decidedly favouring the conception that the outer
coat merely was employed in preparing the writing material. Indeed,
in every specimen which I have examined, I have found the slips of
which it is composed rarely exceeding twelve or fifteen inches even
lengthwise. Whereas, if they had been produced from the pithy part
of the stem, after being cut into slices, there would have been no
difficulty whatever in manufacturing the paper of the entire length,
which, as I have already stated, sometimes exceeded ten feet.
The breadth of papyri seldom exceeds eighteen inches, sometimes they
are not more than four inches in width, which I imagine to have been
determined by the length of the outer coats or pellicles taken from
the plant; the length, of course, being carried to any extent, simply
by fastening one sheet to another. The largest specimen of which I
have heard is one at Paris, measuring thirty feet in length. The most
interesting which we possess in this country is one which may be seen
in the Manuscript Department of the British Museum, which appears to
have been written in Latin in the year 572, upon a roll of papyrus,
eight feet and a half long, and twelve inches wide. It is a deed
relating to the sale of a house and land at Ravenna.
Though papyri found on mummies are often in a good state of
preservation, it is necessary to be very careful in handling them.
The roll, owing to its being pressed under the swathings of the
mummy, being completely flattened, and from the unvarying high
temperature of the tomb to which it has for so long a time been
subjected, is frequently so dry and brittle, that if any attempt be
made to unroll it without previous precaution, small pieces will
continually fall off. Still, the durability of this writing material
is one of its best qualities. It can, in some instances, be rolled
and unrolled after the lapse of many centuries without any detriment
to it; but the complete preservation of such specimens is generally
to be attributed to their being kept from the air either in wooden
or earthen vessels, frequently in the interior of the Idol to which
the mummy was once wont to present his offering, which is usually
of some grotesque, or even hideous form, altogether unworthy of
mention as representing any created thing, either upon the face of
the earth, or in the waters beneath. Not long since I was shown one,
containing a roll of papyrus, which had been roughly carved out of
wood, somewhat resembling an overgrown _cat_ in a sitting posture.
And this so called god, as appears to have been customarily the case,
was taken from the tomb, where it stood over the mummy, with two
very beautiful vases, which at one time contained fragrant oils,
believed to be acceptable to the Idol, placed in front. The papyri
thus curiously preserved, usually contain an account of the rank or
station which the dead once filled, and occasionally some description
of the particular rites and ceremonies observed with reference to the
worship.
With respect to the period at which the ancients began to make a
writing substance of the papyrus, or, indeed, of the name of the
originator, nothing decisive is known. It would, however, appear
from the prophecy in Isaiah, which has been already referred to, in
which mention is made of paper reeds by the brooks, that paper made
of such reeds was actually in use when that prophecy was written.
And in accordance with this conception, the learned Dr. Gill, in his
commentary says, “On the banks of the Nile grew a reed, or rush,
called by the Greeks papyrus, or byblus, from whence come the words
paper and bible, or book, of which paper was anciently made, even as
early as the time of Isaiah,” now nearly 3000 years ago.
The kind of pen ordinarily used for writing upon this material was
simply _a reed_, cut and split just as our quill pens at present
are, but with a point not quite so sharp.
I have in my possession some very fine specimens of what is usually
called Bark Cloth, which, in its manufacture, approximates more
nearly to that of modern paper than any other substance with which I
am acquainted. It is formed from the bark of a small tree, or shrub,
called the Paper Mulberry (_morus papyrifera_), which grows wild in
the southern provinces of China, in Ava, in the Burmese country, and
in India, as well as in all the Asiatic and Polynesian islands from
Japan to Otaheite. If a strip of this bark, which is remarkable for
the fineness of its texture, after being soaked in water, be laid
on a smooth stone, and then carefully beaten with a bat or mallet,
the surface of which is cut into fine ribs, the fibres will become
separated more or less from one another, and if the beating be
carefully conducted, the bark will ultimately assume the appearance
of a web of fine linen, two pieces of bark being made to incorporate
with one another simply by laying them so as to overlap a little,
and then beating again. In this simple way the material is formed;
and by a short exposure to the sunshine when wet, becomes perfectly
white. To render it fit for writing, it is afterwards polished in a
manner similar to the papyrus, by rubbing it with a shell or other
hard substance until it has very much the appearance of parchment;
and that it bears ink perfectly well, may be seen by an inspection of
some Javanese Works, which are contained in the library of the Hon.
East India Company.
The bat or mallet employed by the natives in preparing this material
is usually about 15 inches in length, and from two and a half to
three inches square, one side being grooved very coarsely, another
somewhat finer, a third exceedingly fine, and the fourth generally
cut in chequers or small squares. The bark is first beaten with the
coarsest side of the instrument, and then, in turn, with those parts
which are finer, the resinous matter contained in it being usually
found sufficiently adhesive.
Without, however, dwelling longer upon this portion of our subject,
which time will not permit, let us now proceed to trace out, in
some measure, the history and progress of that more perfect and
ingenious invention, MODERN PAPER; and in so doing, I can hardly
forbear making some allusion to the incalculable advantages which
have resulted to mankind from the introduction of so ingenious
and extraordinary a discovery. It certainly would appear very
remarkable, that not only amongst mankind generally, but even with
those intimately associated with that branch of commerce, so little
interest should be found to exist in an acquaintance with its origin
and advancement, beyond the bare knowledge which directly concerns
them. It is true that with them, no less than with people in general,
the very indispensableness of the material renders familiarity
at once an unconscious stumbling-block, to any conception of the
grandeur of its importance, or its vastly interesting, and varied
associations. Yet what infinite trouble and labour, what fruitless
consumption of time, has not been saved by the invention of paper.
How many toilsome and dangerous experiments have not philosophical
projectors been spared. What laborious investigations and study have
not thus been abridged, by the facts of others’ researches being
so conveyed to posterity—knowledge, more than any one man could
have attained to in a thousand years, though born with faculties in
maturity. To enumerate all the advantages which the invention of
paper has afforded mankind, it were, indeed, useless to attempt; for,
whether we look at the traveller, traversing sea and land, without
the knowledge of geography, and navigation; without those beautiful
charts of the ocean, by which he is now enabled to proceed with
safety, and even to predict with certainty, his arrival at the most
distant ports: or, whether we look at the man of science, who being
neither artist, nor manufacturer, is thus enabled to communicate his
plans and projects with accuracy and ease, for mechanics afterwards
to improve and perfect: or, indeed, whether we view the growing
youth, educated with such facility in the principles of their duty,
backward even to barbarous states, softened and enlightened by means
of the discovery; its value, in the applicability of its purposes,
stands out alike in each, declaring it distinctly above all other
inventions, as truly the most wonderful, useful, and important,
which has ever yet transpired in any age of the world; inasmuch, as
without it, every other discovery must necessarily have continued
comparatively useless to society. For, be it remembered, that in
contrasting the results of this invention, with the productions of
former periods, we are, in fact, arraying in our train, the mighty
arm of the press against the feeble efforts of an unwieldy style,
or the tedious and uncertain process of the slow-paced pen, which
prior to an acquaintance with the art of printing, were the only
means mankind possessed for spreading the influence and advantages
of learning amongst their fellow-creatures. And, again, how highly
interesting is it, to observe the prodigious advancement resulting
from an ingenious and successful application of machinery in the one
case, serving at the same time to develop to our wonder and amazement
the extraordinary capabilities of production which have since been
revealed by the Printing Machine. Truly may we now pronounce—
The Press! the venerated Press!
Freedom’s impenetrable shield—
The sword that wins her best success,
The only sword that man should wield.
It is stated that the daily aggregate printed surface of the _Times_
alone, actually exceeds that of thirty acres, and the _Illustrated
London News_, on one occasion, sent forth no less than 500,000 double
numbers, or one million sheets. In fact, 2000 reams, exceeding
seventy tons in weight.
The manufacture of four or five hundred square feet of paper per
minute, and 12,000 impressions per hour, are now matters of every day
occurrence, although it should be borne in mind, that without the
_paper machine_, pouring forth its miles of web, these corresponding
advantages in printing could not have been developed.
We may take as an instance, that book of books, which Pollok very
beautifully describes as—
“The only star
By which the bark of man could navigate
The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss
Securely!”
Although now a handsome copy, printed on tolerably fine paper, gilt
edged, and bound in embossed roan, may be purchased for one shilling,
in the reign of Henry the Third, it is recorded that two arches of
London Bridge were built for a less sum than that for which a Bible
could be procured. And, as we continue the search still further
back, the contrast becomes increasingly interesting. For let it be
remembered, that the sixty-six books of which the Bible is composed,
were not always contained in so convenient a form. During the sixteen
centuries which were occupied in making known this revelation to man,
not only were the advantages which we possess altogether unknown,
even in their rudest form, but substitutes, apparently far less
promising than many we have referred to, were also at one period
and another directed to be employed. As for instance, to Ezekiel,
Jehovah once said, “Thou also son of man, take thee a _tile_, and
lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem.”
And elsewhere, “Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one _stick_,
and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children of Israel, his
companions.”
Of course there have been occasions when certain portions of the
Scriptures were very beautifully inscribed (more particularly of
the New Testament) sometimes in letters of gold, on parchment of
the richest purple. Still they were _manuscript_, and as such, not
unfrequently occupied the labour of individuals for years. Instances
are upon record, of fifty years in the life of one man being engaged
in the execution of a single copy of the Scriptures. In the present
day it is, perhaps, impossible for us properly to appreciate the
skill, the labour, and the immense expenditure employed in such
productions.
For now, by the aid of the printing machine, we have an entire copy
struck off in the space of one minute; and such were the almost
miraculous efforts of the British and Foreign Bible Society last
year, that they actually issued, in nearly 150 known languages, an
average circulation of a copy for every minute throughout the year.
It is much to be regretted that in tracing the origin of so curious
an art as that of the manufacture of modern paper, any definite
conclusion as to the precise time or period of its adoption should
hitherto have proved altogether unattainable. The Royal Society
of Sciences at Gottingen, in 1755 and 1763, offered considerable
premiums for that especial object, but unfortunately all researches,
however directed, were utterly fruitless. The most ancient manuscript
on _cotton paper_ appears to have been written in 1050, while
Eustathius, who wrote towards the end of the 12th century, states
that the Egyptian papyrus had gone into disuse but a little before
his time. To reconcile, however, in some measure contradictory
accounts, it may be observed, that on some particular occasions,
and by some particular persons, the Egyptian paper might have been
employed for several hundred years after it ceased to be in general
use, and it is quite certain, that although the new invention must
have proved of great advantage to mankind, it could only have been
introduced by degrees. Amongst the records which are preserved at the
Tower of London I have seen a letter addressed to Henry the Third,
and written previously to 1222, which appears to be upon strong
paper, of mixed materials. Several letters of the following reign,
which are there preserved, are evidently written on _cotton_ paper.
Were we able to determine the precise time when paper was first made
from cotton, we should also be enabled to fix the invention of the
art of paper making as it is now practised. For the application
of cotton to the purposes of paper making, requires almost as much
labour and ingenuity as the use of linen rags. Some have conceived,
and I think with sufficient reason, that China originally gave birth
to the invention. Certain it is, that the art of making paper from
vegetable matter reduced to pulp was known and understood there long
before it was practised in Europe, which did not take place until
the 11th century, and the Chinese have carried it to a high degree
of perfection. Several kinds of their paper evince the greatest art
and ingenuity, and are applied with much advantage to many purposes.
One especially, manufactured from the inner bark of the bamboo, is
particularly celebrated for affording the clearest and most delicate
impressions from copper plates, which we ordinarily term _india
proofs_. The Chinese, however, make paper of various kinds, some of
the bark of trees, especially the mulberry tree, and the elm, but
chiefly of the bamboo and cotton tree, and occasionally from other
substances, such as hemp, wheat, or rice straw. To give an idea of
the manner of fabricating paper from these different substances, it
will suffice, (the process being nearly the same in each,) to confine
our observations to the method adopted in the manufacture of paper
from the bamboo,—a kind of cane or hollow reed, divided by knots,
but larger, more elastic, and more durable than any other reed. The
whole substance of the bamboo is at times employed by the Chinese
in this operation, but the younger stalks are preferred. The canes
being first cut into pieces of four or five feet in length, are made
into parcels, and thrown into a reservoir of mud and water for about
a fortnight, to soften them; they are then taken out, and carefully
washed, every one of the pieces being again cut into filaments, which
are exposed to the rays of the sun to dry, and to bleach. After
this they are boiled in large kettles, and then reduced to pulp in
mortars, by means of a hammer with a long handle; or as is more
commonly the case, by submitting the mass to the action of stampers,
raised in the usual way by cogs on a revolving axis. The pulp being
thus far prepared, a glutinous substance, extracted from the shoots
of a certain plant, is next mixed with it in stated quantities, and
upon this mixture chiefly depends the quality of the paper. As soon
as this has taken place the whole is again beaten together until it
becomes a thick viscous liquor, which, after being reduced to an
essential state of consistency, by a further admixture of water, is
then transferred to a large reservoir or vat, having on each side
of it a drying stove, in the form of the ridge of a house, that is,
consisting of two sloping sides touching at top. These sides are
covered externally with an exceedingly smooth coating of stucco,
and a flue passes through the brickwork, so as to keep the whole of
each side equally and moderately warm. A vat and a stove are placed
alternately in the manufactory, so that there are two sides of two
different stoves adjacent to each vat. The workman dips his mould,
which is sometimes formed merely of bulrushes, cut in narrow strips,
and mounted in a frame, into the vat, and then raises it out again,
the water passing off through the perforations in the bottom, and the
pulpy paper-stuff remaining on its surface. The frame of the mould is
then removed, and the bottom is pressed against the side of one of
the stoves, so as to make the sheet of paper adhere to its surface,
and allow the sieve, (as it were) to be withdrawn. The moisture, of
course, speedily evaporates by the warmth of the stove, but before
the paper is quite dry, it is brushed over on its outer surface with
a size made of rice, which also soon dries, and the paper is then
stripped off in a finished state, having one surface exquisitely
smooth, it being seldom the practice of the Chinese to write or
print on both sides of the paper. While all this is taking place,
the moulder has made a second sheet, and pressed it against the side
of the other stove, where it undergoes the operation of sizing and
drying, precisely as in the former case.
The very delicate material, which is brought from China in pieces
only a few inches square, and commonly, but erroneously, termed
_rice paper_, is in reality but a membrane of the breadfruit tree,
obtained by cutting the stem spirally round the axis, and afterwards
flattening it by pressure. That it is not an artificial production
may very readily be perceived by contrasting one of the more
translucent specimens with a piece of the finest manufactured paper,
by the aid of the microscope.
The precise period at which the manufacture of paper was first
introduced into Europe appears to be rather a matter of uncertainty.
Paper mills, moved by water power, were in operation in Tuscany
at the commencement of the fourteenth century; and at Nuremberg,
in Germany, one was established in 1390, by Ulman Stromer, who
wrote the first work ever published on the art of paper making. He
seems to have employed a great number of persons, all of whom were
obliged to take an oath that they would not teach any one the art
of paper making, or make it on their own account. In the following
year, when anxious to increase the means of its production, he met
with such strong opposition from those he employed, who would not
consent to any enlargement of the mill, that it became at length
requisite to bring them before the magistrates, by whom they were
imprisoned, after which they submitted, by renewing their oaths.
Two or three centuries later, we find the Dutch in like manner, so
extremely jealous with respect to the manufacture, as to prohibit the
exportation of moulds, under no less severe a penalty than that of
death.
Fuller makes some exceedingly curious observations respecting the
paper of his time, which may, perhaps, be introduced here with
advantage. He says—“Paper participates in some sort of the character
of the country which makes it; the Venetian being neat, subtile, and
court like; the French light, slight, and slender; and the Dutch
thick, corpulent, and gross, sucking up the ink with the sponginess
thereof.” He complains that the paper manufactories were not then
sufficiently encouraged, considering the vast sums of money expended
in our land for paper out of Italy, France, and Germany, which might
be lessened, were it made in our nation. “To such who object,”
says he, “that we can never equal the perfection of Venice paper,
I return, neither can we match the purity of Venice glasses, and
yet many green ones are blown in Sussex, profitable to the makers,
and convenient to the users, our home-spun paper might be found
beneficial.”
With reference to any particular _time_ or _place_ at which this
inestimable invention was first adopted in England, all researches
into existing records contribute little to our assistance. The first
paper mill erected here is commonly attributed to Sir John Spielman,
a German, who established one in 1588, at Dartford, for which the
honour of knighthood was afterwards conferred upon him by Queen
Elizabeth, who was also pleased to grant him a license “for the sole
gathering for ten years of all rags, &c., necessary for the making of
such paper.” It is, however, quite certain that paper mills were in
existence here long before Spielman’s time. Shakspeare, in the second
part of his play of Henry the Sixth, the plot of which appears laid
at least a century previously, refers to a paper mill. In fact, he
introduces it as an additional weight to the charge which Jack Cade
is made to bring against Lord Saye, “Thou hast most traitorously
corrupted,” says he, “the youth of the realm, in erecting a grammar
school, and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but
the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used, and
contrary to the king, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper
mill.”
Understanding that some five-and-thirty or forty years since it was
asserted by the then occupier of North Newton mill, near Banbury,
in Oxfordshire, which at that time was the property of Lord Saye
and Sele, that such was the first erected in this country for the
manufacture of paper, and also that it was to that mill Shakspeare
referred in the passage just quoted, I recently communicated with
Lord Saye and Sele as to the plausibility of the supposition;
remarking at the same time as I would now, that although it was of
course quite impossible to award the immortal bard great credit for
chronological accuracy, it must, I thought, be admitted, that so
marvellous an invention, unless really in existence, could not by any
possibility of conception have been conjured up even to supply the
unlimited necessities of the poet’s strain. His Lordship, however, at
once terminated the probability of this mill taking the precedence,
even of Sir John Spielman’s, by informing me that the first nobleman
succeeding to that title who had property in Oxfordshire, which he
acquired by marriage, was the _son_ of the first Lord Saye, to whom
Shakspeare makes reference.
The earliest trace of the manufacture in this country occurs in a
book printed by Caxton, about the year 1490, in which it is said of
John Tate—
“Which late hathe in England doo make thys paper thynne,
That now in our Englyssh thys booke is prynted inne.”
His mill was situate at or near Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, and
that it was considered worthy of especial notice is evident from an
entry made in Henry the Seventh’s Household Book, on the 25th of May,
1498—“For a rewarde geven at the paper-mylne, 16s. 8d.” And again in
1499—“Geven in rewarde to Tate of the mylne, 6s. 8d.”
Still, it appears to me far less probable that Shakspeare alluded to
this mill, although established at a period corresponding in many
respects with that of occurrences referred to in connection, than
to that of Sir John Spielman’s, which, standing as it did in the
immediate neighbourhood of Jack Cade’s rebellion, and being esteemed
so important at the time, as to call forth the marked patronage
of Queen Elizabeth; while the extent of the operations carried on
there, if we may judge from the remarks of a poet of the time, were
equally calculated to arouse undivided national interest; one can
hardly help thinking, that the prominence to which Shakspeare assigns
the existence of a paper mill, coupled as such allusion is with an
acknowledged liberty, inherent in him, of transposing events, to add
force to his style, as also with very considerable doubt as to the
exact year in which he wrote the play, that the reference made was to
none other than that of Sir John Spielman’s establishment of 1588,
concerning which we find it said—
“Six hundred men are set to work by him,
That else might starve or seek abroad their bread,
Who now live well, and go full brave and trim,
And who may boast they are with paper fed.”
Be the introduction or establishment of the invention, so far as
this country is concerned, when it may; little progress appears to
have resulted therefrom, even so late as the middle of the 17th
century. In 1695, a company was formed in Scotland “for manufacturing
white writing and printing paper,” relating to which, “Articles
concluded and agreed upon at a general meeting at Edinburgh, the
19th day of August,” in the same year, may still be seen by those
who are sufficiently curious, in the Library of the British Museum.
It is also recorded in the Craftsman (910), that William the Third
granted the Huguenots refuged in England a patent for establishing
paper manufactories, and that Parliament likewise granted to them
other privileges, amongst which, in all probability, that very
unsatisfactory practice of putting up each ream with two quires
composed entirely of sheets spoiled in course of production. Their
undertaking, however, like that of many others, appears to have met
with very little success.
In fact, the making of paper here scarcely reached any high degree of
perfection until about 1760-5, at which period the celebrated James
Whatman established his reputation at Maidstone.
The report of the Juries of the Great Exhibition of 1851—a work
from whence information might very naturally be sought, and
which one would have supposed to be unexceptionable in point
of authenticity,—contains, I regret to say, a very unfortunate
misstatement with reference to the position of Mr. Whatman at
that time. It is there stated that he gained his knowledge of the
manufacture prior to establishing these well-known mills “by working
as a journeyman in most of the principal paper manufactories of the
Continent,” which is altogether an erroneous assertion; for Mr.
Whatman previously to his being engaged as a manufacturer, was an
officer in the Kent Militia, and acquired the information, which
eventually rendered him so successful, by travelling in the suite of
the British Ambassador to Holland, where the best papers were then
made, and the insight thus obtained enabled his genius to effect the
great improvements afterwards so universally admitted.
At the present time, Whatman’s papers (so called) are manufactured at
two mills, totally distinct, both of which are still worked by the
descendants of Mr. Whatman’s successors; the paper in the one case
being readily distinguished by the water-mark, “J. Whatman, Turkey
Mill,” and in the other, by the water-mark simply “J. Whatman,”
but bearing upon the upper wrapper of each ream the original and
well-known stamp, containing the initials L. V. G., which are those
of L. V. Gerrevink, as celebrated a Dutch manufacturer prior to Mr.
Whatman’s improvements, as Mr. Whatman’s name has since become in all
parts of the world.
In making so marked an allusion to this particular manufacture, I am
bound, perhaps, to qualify it in some measure by directing attention
to the comparatively recent application of continuous or rotatory
motion which has, indeed, effected no more wonderful or extraordinary
results than in the singular conversion of pulp into paper.
The largest paper now made by hand, which is termed Antiquarian,
measures 53 inches by 31, and so great is the weight of liquid pulp
employed in the formation of a single sheet, that no fewer than nine
men are required, besides additional assistance in raising the mould
out of the vat by means of pulleys; while by the aid of the _paper
machine_, the most perfect production may be ensured, of a continuous
length, and eight feet wide, without any positive necessity for
personal superintendence.
The principle of paper making by machinery is simply this, instead of
employing moulds and felts of limited dimensions, as was originally
the practice, the peculiar merit of the invention consists in the
adaptation of an endless wire-gauze to receive the paper pulp, and
again an endless felt, to which in progress the paper is transferred;
and thus by a marvellously delicate adjustment, while the wire at
one end receives but a constant flow of liquid pulp, in the course
of two or three minutes we may have, carefully wound on a roller at
the other extremity, the most beautiful and serviceable of fabrics.
Instead of counting sheets in course of production as formerly,
or even measuring the length by yards, we may actually have the
paper drawn out as it were, and wound up, miles in length. In the
recent Dublin Exhibition, a sheet was exhibited which was said to
have been of sufficient length to wrap round the world; but, I must
confess, that I am not in a position to vouch for the accuracy of the
statement. An anecdote, however, is told, (the truth of which I have
no reason to doubt,) of the patentee of this machine, and a relative
or friend of his, of some considerable standing and influence in
the pottery district, who were dining together about the period
at which this machine was first adopted; when the one speaking of
the advantages which he conceived the new mode would prove to his
friend, alluded above all others to the remarkable capability which
it possessed of producing paper of any length that could possibly
be required. “Well,” said his friend, “I very much doubt that, but
if you can make me _five miles_ of the quality I require, I shall
certainly have little hesitation in admitting all the perfection
and suitability which you have laboured to impress upon me.” The
very next day the machine was set to work, and timed, in order to
ascertain the required length wound upon the reel, which, after
being charged with Excise duty, was forwarded without delay to its
destination; and, as may be conceived, to the utter astonishment of
his incredulous friend.
It is a fact, which certainly deserves to be noticed for its
singularity as well as for the strong point of view in which it
places the merits of this invention, that an art of such great
importance to society as that of the manufacture of paper, should
have remained for at least eight centuries since paper is first
believed to have been in use, and that upwards of 200 of those years
should have elapsed since its first introduction into England,
without any mechanical improvement whatever as regards the processes
which were then employed. It is true, that various attempts from time
to time were made, but in every instance they appear to have met
with very little success. In France, an ingenious artist contrived
three figures in wood to do the work of the vatman, the coucher,
and the layer; but, after persevering for six months, and incurring
considerable expense, he was at length compelled to abandon his
scheme. And although paper was previously manufactured in China, in
Persia, and indeed throughout all Asia, sometimes of considerable
length, I might mention that it was so, not by machinery, but by
means of a mould of the size of the paper intended to be made,
suspended like a swing, and having men placed at the distance of
about every four feet, for the purpose of producing an uniform
shaking motion, after the mould had been immersed in the vat, in
order to compact the pulp.
Such then was the rude state of this important manufacture, even up
to the commencement of the present century, when another ingenious
Frenchman, named Didot, brought over to this country a small model
of a continuous machine, with the view of getting the benefit of
English capital and mechanical skill to bring it into an operative
state; and fortunately for the vigorous development of this embryo
project, which had proved an abortion in France, he communicated
his ideas of the practicability of the measure to a mercantile firm
of considerable opulence, who, with great public spirit, at once
concluded an agreement with him for the purchase of a principle which
might be said at that period never to have been tried. The firm
alluded to was that of the Messrs. Fourdrinier, who at that time, and
for several years afterwards, were the principal stationers and paper
manufacturers in Great Britain.
In order to accomplish the arduous object which those gentlemen
then had in view, they appear to have laboured without intermission
for nearly six years, when, after incurring an expense which would
have exhausted any fortune of moderate extent (upwards of £60,000),
they at length succeeded in giving some sort of organization and
connection to the mechanical parts, for which they obtained a patent,
and finding eventually that there was little prospect of being
recompensed for labour and risk, or even reimbursed their expenses,
unless Parliament should think proper to grant an extension of their
patent, they determined upon making a fresh application to the
Legislature for that purpose. But, it would appear that although in
the Bill as it passed the House of Commons, such prolonged period
extended to fourteen years; in the Lords it was limited to seven,
with an understanding that such term should be extended to seven
years more in the event of the patentees proving, upon a future
application, that they had not been sufficiently remunerated. No such
application, however, was made, in consequence of a Standing Order
of the House of Lords, placed on their journal subsequently to the
passing of the said act; which regulation had the effect of depriving
the Messrs. Fourdrinier of any benefit whatever from the invention;
and ultimately, so great were the difficulties they had to encounter,
and so little encouragement or support did they receive, that the
time and attention required to mature this valuable invention, and
the large capital which it absorbed, were the means of reducing that
wealthy and liberal firm to the humiliating condition of bankruptcy;
and only within the past few months the surviving partner, Mr.
Henry Fourdrinier, to whom mainly we owe the success of the
invention, and as unquestionably our present high position in the
scale of nations, was carried to his grave, in his ninetieth year,
comparatively a beggar. A leading article in the _Times_, June 17,
1847, speaking of Mr. Henry Fourdrinier, thus concludes by advocating
his claims:—“Three days only are past since an assembly, illustrious
for rank and station, met to celebrate and immortalize the memory of
Caxton. What more fitting or graceful opportunity of paying a tribute
of respect and justice to his fellow-labourer in an adjoining field?
the one the father of printing, the other the inventor of a process
by which the full benefits of printing have been realized to the
civilized world. And in the case of Mr. Fourdrinier this advantage
is found, that he can receive in person the tribute of a nation’s
gratitude; an octogenarian, he still lives; unlike Caxton, he is not
yet a subject for posthumous honours. It is not a monument he wants,
but justice. The world, no doubt, according to ancient precedent,
would rather pay its tribute of admiration, if we should not rather
say its debt of homage, after death. But it is fortunately in the
power of the present age to point to a modern example of tardy but
full reparation made to a living man, a great improvement upon the
old rule, the mockery of a national funeral, and Westminster Abbey.
Lord Dundonald’s case will always stand as a brilliant exception to
the common neglect of contemporary merit, and by his side it would
be well to place, at no great interval, the man who in a humbler
sphere, but better suited to an age of peace, has benefitted humanity
by facilitating the diffusion of letters, and the acquisition of
knowledge.” Powerful and influential as is that journal, however,
this worthy man was still left to combat so bitter a reverse, without
even the means of procuring comfort in his declining years.
But I am happy to say that an appeal has lately been made to that
particular branch of trade so materially benefitted by the invention,
the paper manufacturers, in the hope that thus a sufficient fund may
be raised to furnish his surviving daughters with a competent annuity
for the remainder of their days. And I sincerely hope that the
results of this laudable effort may speedily prove to be as worthy
the spirit of its originators, as on the part of the public generally
it deserves consideration, as being supremely a national duty. For,
be it remembered, that while the value and importance of such an
invention to the paper maker is sufficiently clear and conclusive,
from the fact of its general adoption throughout the united kingdom,
by no less than 700 manufacturers (averaging, probably, twice
that number of machines); so on the other hand, we surely cannot
remain unmindful of its effects and benefits upon ourselves, when
in contrasting the results of the paper-making-machine with the
productions of a former period, we find the cost reduced to the
consumer considerably more than one-half, in some instances to
actually a fourth.
Thus then, it will be seen that as civilization has advanced, the
facilities for recording and transmitting facts have uniformly
improved and multiplied until now, instead of oral tradition,
necessarily uncertain; instead of the bark and leaf, perishable
or fragile; instead of the papyrus, so brittle; the parchment, so
costly; the raw cotton paper, so expensive; instead of inscriptions
by the unwieldy style and by the slow-paced pen, we have now a cheap,
serviceable material, manufactured from the most useless of fabrics,
and even from the very refuse of our clothing, which, conjointly with
that art which preserves all other arts, enables us far to surpass in
recording and transmitting power, even the greatest demands in the
world’s history.
NOTE.—Since the “proof” sheet was put into my hands, I have heard
with very great satisfaction, that some interest has at length
been awakened in the case of the Fourdriniers, and that a list has
been commenced, headed with liberal subscriptions from his Grace
the Duke of Sutherland, the Right Hon. the Earl of Harrowby, the
Proprietors of _The Times_, _Illustrated London News_, and several
leading firms connected with the Paper Trade.—R. H.
CHAPTER II.
On the Materials employed in the Formation of Paper—Method of
Preparation—Processes of Comminution, Washing, Bleaching, etc.
described—Paper-making by Hand—Paper-making Machine—Sizing
Apparatus—Cutting-Machine, etc. explained—General Observations
on what are termed Water-Marks—Manner of effecting the
same—Importance frequently attached to them—Ireland’s Fabrication
of the Shakspeare MSS.—Difficulty in procuring suitable Paper
for the purpose—On the perfection to which Water-Marks have now
attained, especially with reference to the production of Light
and Shade, as seen in the New Bank Note, etc., etc.
In the present chapter it will be my object to take as general a
glance at the principles of paper making, as in the former it was my
endeavour to treat its history.
First then, we have to notice the nature of some of the materials
employed. And although everybody is supposed to know that paper is
made from rags, it may, perhaps, be excuseable to consider of what
the rags themselves originally were composed. Unquestionably, the
simplest definition one could give would be, fragments of worn-out
clothing; and by clothing, no doubt, we all sufficiently understand
the dress, vesture or garments usually adopted by man. Still we have
to ask ourselves of what are these articles of clothing composed?
It has been somewhat shrewdly remarked in every instance, of a
something of which man has previously denuded something else. At one
time (as we all know) he cunningly entraps innumerable individuals,
of the fox, weazel, and squirrel tribes, to strip them of their
warm and valuable fur. At another, he hatches and feeds legions of
caterpillars, that he may rob them of the defensive padding which
they spin to protect their helplessness while passing through the
chrysalis state. Sometimes he pastures the sheep for its skin and its
wool, occasionally setting so little store by the carcase as to melt
it into tallow, or burn it as fuel. And even mother earth herself is
treated with no greater forbearance, by alternately feeding her up
with manure, and teazing and tormenting her surface with tillage,
she is coaxed and compelled to send forth a living vegetable down,
which is shorn, plucked and plundered from her bosom, in the shape of
cotton, flax, and hemp.
And all those silks, woollens, flax, hemp, and cotton, in all their
varied forms, whether as cambric, lace, linen, holland, fustian,
corduroy, bagging, canvas, or even as cables, are or can be used
in the manufacture of paper of one kind or another. Still, when we
speak of rags, as of necessity, they accumulate, and are gathered
up by those who make it their business to collect them, they are
very far from answering the purposes of paper making. Rags, to
the paper-maker, are almost as various in point of quality or
distinction, as the materials which are sought after through the
influence of fashion. Thus, the paper maker, in buying rags, requires
to know exactly of what the bulk is composed. If he is a manufacturer
of white papers, no matter whether intended for writing or printing,
silk or woollen rags, would be found altogether useless, inasmuch,
as is well known, the bleach will fail to act upon any animal
substance whatever. And although he may purchase even a mixture
in proper proportions adapted for the quality he is in the habit
of supplying, it is as essential in the processes of preparation,
that they shall be previously separated. Cotton in its raw state,
as may be readily conceived, requires far less preparation than a
strong hempen fabric, and thus, to meet the requirements of the
paper-maker, we have rags classed under different denominations, as
for instance, besides _Fines_ and _Seconds_, we have _Thirds_, which
are composed of fustians, corduroy, and similar fabrics; _Stamps_
or _Prints_ (as they are termed by the paper-maker), which are
coloured rags, and also innumerable foreign rags, distinguished by
certain well-known marks, indicating their various peculiarities.
I might mention, however, that although by far the greater portion
of the materials employed are such as we have already alluded to,
it is not from their possessing any exclusive suitableness—since
various fibrous vegetable substances have frequently been used,
and are indeed still successfully employed—but rather on account
of their comparatively trifling value, arising from the limited
use to which they are otherwise applicable. The agitation of late,
which was partly-occasioned by the war, and partly by a sudden and
unprecedented demand, that there was a great scarcity of fibrous
materials fit to be used in paper making, coupled with an advance in
the price of at least twenty per cent., and still further heightened
by the offer of £1,000 to any one who could procure an advantageous
substitute, has necessarily called forth many suggestions, but,
to quote the words of Dr. Forbes Royle, “The generality of modern
experimentalists seem to be wholly unacquainted with the labours
of their predecessors, many of them commencing improvement by
repeating experiments which had already been made, and announcing
results as new, which had long previously been ascertained.”
The latest suggestion of the kind, and indeed the only one worth
referring to, is that which Lord Derby recently brought forward in
the House of Lords. He first referred to a Bill before the other
House of Parliament for incorporating a company established for the
manufacture of paper from _flax straw_. Of course there is little new
in this. The rags or materials already employed, are composed, as
everybody knows, to a very great extent, of the fibre of flax, and
besides, possess this great advantage, that they have been repeatedly
prepared for paper making by the numerous alkaline washings which
they necessarily receive during their period of use, which, if left
to the paper-maker, as would be the case with flax in its raw state,
to be done all at once, (and it must _be_ done before the fibre is
fit for use,) would add so fearfully to the expense, as to render
its adoption for printing or writing paper altogether unadvisable.
However, Lord Derby proceeds—“It was proposed to employ the fibres of
various plants indigenous to the West Indies, such as the plantain,
the aloe, and others, which grow in vast abundance, and which were
utterly valueless at the present moment. He need not say, that an
immense abundance of this material could be produced; and he wished
only to mention, that on one estate in Demerara no less than 160,000
plantain trees were cut down every year, the trees going to waste, as
they were cut down only for the purpose of getting at the fruit; and
this wasted material contained 250 tons of fibre, capable of being
manufactured into paper.”
Now, admitting _all_ this, which Lord Derby is _reported_ to have
said, I can again assert that there is nothing whatever new in it.
I have specimens of paper from the same materials, which were made
several years ago. The cost, however, of reducing the plantain into
fibre, coupled with the expense of freight, was found, and will still
be found, to bring up the price so much, as to effectually exclude
it from the manufacture of paper; for this simple reason, that rags,
of necessity, must continue accumulating, and before it will answer
the purpose of the paper-maker to employ new material—which is not
so well adapted for his purpose as the old—he must be enabled to
purchase it for considerably less than it would be worth in the
manufacture of textile fabrics.
All that can be said as to the suitableness of fibre in general
may be summed up in very few words; any vegetable fibre having a
corrugated edge, which will enable it to cohere in the mass, is fit
for the purposes of paper making; the extent to which such might
be applied can solely be determined by the question of cost in its
production; and hitherto, everything proposed has been excluded, as
in the case of the _plantain_ or _banana_, either by the cost of
freight, the cost of preparation, or the expenses combined.
To convey some idea of the number of substances which have been
really tried; in the Library of the British Museum may be seen a
book, printed in low Dutch, containing upwards of sixty specimens
of paper, made of different materials, the result of one man’s
experiments _alone_, so far back as the year 1772. In fact, almost
every species of tough fibrous vegetable, and even animal substance,
has at one time or another been employed: even the roots of trees,
their bark, the bine of hops, the tendrils of the vine, the stalks of
the nettle, the common thistle, the stem of the hollyhock, the sugar
cane, cabbage stalks, wood shavings, saw dust, hay, straw, willow,
and the like.
At the present time straw is occasionally used, sometimes in
connection with other materials, such as linen or cotton rags,
and even with considerable advantage, providing the processes of
preparation are thoroughly understood. Where such is not the case,
and the silica contained in the straw has not been destroyed (by
means of a strong alkali), the paper will invariably be found more
or less brittle; in some cases so much so as to be hardly applicable
to any purpose whatever of practical utility. Specimens, numbered 18
and 19, affixed at the end of this work, are manufactured from as
much as 80 per cent. _straw_ and 20 per cent. _rope_, and certainly,
as regards toughness, are excellent. No. 20, is manufactured almost
entirely from _wheat straw_, which is first bleached to the utmost,
and then blued by an admixture of ultramarine. The waste, however,
which the straw undergoes, in addition to a most expensive process of
preparation, necessarily precludes its adoption to any great extent.
An ingenious invention has recently been patented for converting
large blocks of wood into paper pulp; but to what extent it is
likely to receive favourable attention at the hands of paper makers
generally, is quite impossible to say. The invention is very simple,
consisting merely of a wooden box enclosing a grindstone, which has
a roughened surface, and against which the blocks of wood are kept
in close contact by a lever, a small stream of water being allowed
to flow upon the stone as it turns, in order to free it of the pulp,
and to assist in carrying it off through an outlet at the bottom. Of
course, it is not expected, that the pulp thus produced should be
employed for any but the coarser kinds of paper, in the manufacture
of which there has hitherto been found the greatest scarcity of
material. For all writing and printing purposes, which manifestly
are the most important, nothing has yet been discovered, to lessen
the value of rags, neither is it at all probable that there will
be; indeed, the value of paper for some time past has considerably
declined, while during the most exciting period of last year, the
scarcity so much talked of, was, in fact, comparatively trifling.
The annual consumption of rags in this country alone far exceeds
120,000 tons, three-fourths of which are imported, Italy and Germany
furnishing the principal supplies. That the condition in which the
rags are imported furnishes any criterion of the national habits of
the people from which they came, as has been frequently asserted,
however plausible in theory, must, at least, be received with
caution. But that is by no means important. The specimen of printing
paper, No. 21, was manufactured from a selection far from cleanly;
in fact, there was not a white rag employed, while even fustians,
corduroy, and coloured rags formed a considerable proportion.
In considering the various processes or stages of the manufacture
of paper, we have first to notice that, of carefully sorting and
cutting the rags into small pieces, which is done by women; each
woman standing at a table frame, the upper surface of which consists
of very coarse wire-cloth; a large knife being fixed in the centre
of the table, nearly in a vertical position. The woman stands so as
to have the back of the blade opposite to her, while at her right
hand on the floor is a large wooden box, with several divisions. Her
business consists in examining the rags, opening the seams, removing
dirt, pins, needles, and buttons, of endless variety, which would be
liable to injure the machinery, or damage the quality of the paper.
She then cuts the rags into small pieces, not exceeding four inches
square, by drawing them sharply across the edge of the knife, at the
same time keeping each quality distinct, in the several divisions of
the box placed on her right hand. During this process, much of the
dirt, sand, and so forth, passes through the wire-cloth into a drawer
underneath, which is occasionally cleaned out. After this, the rags
are removed to what is called the _dusting machine_, which is a large
cylindrical frame, covered with similar coarse iron wire-cloth, and
having a powerful revolving shaft extending through the interior,
with a number of spokes fixed transversely, nearly long enough to
touch the cage. By means of this contrivance, the machine being fixed
upon an incline of some inches to the foot, the rags, which are put
in at the top, have any remaining particles of dust that may still
adhere to them effectually beaten out, by the time they reach the
bottom.
Some objection, however, may be made to this method, which has a
tendency to blow away at the same time a considerable portion of
fibre set loose in cutting the rags, along with the dust. To avoid
this waste, an invention has recently been brought out by a son
of the late eminent Mr. Fourdrinier, which he terms his “Patent
Accelerator.” The process adopted is simply that of placing the rags
in their dirty state in water, and employing that as a medium for
carrying off the dust and dirt, in preference to air. The invention
has not yet been very extensively used, and consequently I am not in
a position to say much as to its merits.
The rags being thus far cleansed, have next to be boiled in an
alkaline lye or solution, made more or less strong, as the rags are
more or less coloured, the object being to get rid of the remaining
dirt and some of the colouring matter. The proportion is from four to
ten pounds of carbonate of soda with one-third of quick lime to the
hundred weight of material. In this the rags are boiled for several
hours, according to their quality.
The mode now adopted as the most recent improvement is that of
placing the rags in large cylinders, which are constantly, though
slowly, revolving, thus causing the rags to be as frequently turned
over, and into which a jet of steam is cast with a pressure of
something near 30 lbs. to the square inch.
[Illustration: RAG ENGINE]
After this process of cleansing, the rags are considered in a fit
state to be torn or macerated until they become reduced to pulp,
which was accomplished some five and thirty or forty years since,
by setting them to heat and ferment for many days in close vessels,
whereby in reality they underwent a species of putrefaction.
Another method subsequently employed was that of beating them by
means of stamping rods, shod with iron, working in strong oak or
stone mortars, and moved by water-wheel machinery. So rude and
ineffective however was this apparatus, that no fewer than forty
pairs of stamps were required to operate a night and a day in
preparing one hundred weight of material. At the present time, the
average weekly consumption of rags, at many paper mills, exceeds
even 30 tons. The cylinder or engine mode of comminuting rags
into paper pulp appears to have been invented in Holland, about the
middle of the last century, but received very little attention here
for some years afterwards. The accompanying drawing will serve to
convey some idea of the wonderful rapidity with which the work is
at present accomplished. No less than _twelve tons_ per week can
now be prepared by means of this simple contrivance. The horizontal
section represents an oblong cistern, of cast iron, or wood lined
with lead, into which the rags, with a sufficient quantity of water,
are received. It is divided by a partition, as shown (A), to regulate
the course of the stuff. The spindle upon which each cylinder (C)
moves, extending across the engine, and being put in motion by a
band wheel or pinion at the point (B). One cylinder, is made to
traverse at a much swifter rate than the other, in order that the
rags may be the more effectually triturated. The cylinders (C), as
shown in the vertical section, are furnished with numerous cutters,
running parallel to the axis, and again beneath them similar cutters
are mounted (D) somewhat obliquely, against which, when in motion,
the rags are drawn by the rapid rotation of the cylinders, and thus
reduced to the smallest filaments requisite, sometimes not exceeding
the sixteenth of an inch in length; the distance between the fixed
and moveable blades being capable of any adjustment, simply by
elevating or depressing the bearings upon which the necks of the
shaft are supported. When in operation, it is of course necessary
to enclose the cylinders in a case, as shown (E), otherwise a large
proportion of the rags would inevitably be thrown out of the engine.
I should mention, that the rags are first worked coarsely, with a
stream of water running through the engine, which tends effectually
to wash them, as also to open their fibres; and in order to carry off
the dirty water, what is termed a _washing drum_ is usually employed,
consisting simply of a framework covered with very fine wire-gauze,
in the interior of which, connected with the shaft or spindle, which
is hollow, are two suction tubes, and by this means, on the principle
of a syphon, the dirty water constantly flows away through a larger
tube running down outside, which is connected with that in the
centre, without carrying away any of the fibre.
After this, the mass is placed in another engine, where, if
necessary, it is bleached by an admixture of chloride of lime, which
is retained in the engine until its action becomes apparent. The pulp
is then let down into large slate cisterns to steep, prior to being
reduced to a suitable consistency by the beating engine, as already
described. The rolls or cylinders, however, of the beating engine
are always made to rotate much faster than when employed in washing
or bleaching, revolving probably from 120 to 150 times per minute,
and thus, supposing the cylinders to contain 48 teeth each, passing
over eight others, as shown in the drawing, effecting no fewer than
103,680 cuts in that short period. From this the great advantage of
the modern engine over the old fashioned mortar machine, in turning
out a quantity of paper pulp, will be at once apparent.
The operation of paper making, after the rags or materials to be
used have been thus reduced and prepared, may be divided into two
kinds; that which is carried on in hand-mills, where the formation of
the sheet is performed by manual labour; and that which is carried
on in machine-mills, where the paper is produced upon the machine
wire-cloth in one continuous web.
With respect to hand-made papers, the sheet is formed by the vatman’s
dipping a mould of fine wire-cloth fixed upon a wooden frame, and
having what is termed a deckle, to determine the size of the sheet,
into a quantity of pulp which has been previously mixed with water
to a requisite consistency; when after gently shaking it to and
fro in a horizontal position, the fibres become so connected as to
form one uniform fabric, while the water drains away. The deckle
is then removed from the mould, and the sheet of paper turned off
upon a felt, in a pile with many others, a felt intervening between
each sheet, and the whole subjected to great pressure, in order to
displace the superfluous water; when after being dried and pressed
without the felts, the sheets are dipped into a tub of fine animal
size, the superfluity of which is again forced out by another
pressing; each sheet after being finally dried, undergoing careful
examination before it is finished.
Specimens 2, 3, 4, and 5, inserted at the end of the work, serve to
illustrate the different stages of the manufacture. First, we have
what is termed the _water-leaf_, (2) or the condition in which the
paper appears after being pressed between the felts—this is the first
stage. Next, a sheet from the bulk, as pressed without the felts (3)
which still remains in a state unfit for writing on, not having been
sized—and is in fact but white blotting paper. Then we have a sheet
after sizing, which completely changes its character (4); and lastly
one with the beautiful surface, which most of us, in this steel-pen
age are capable of appreciating (5). This is produced by placing the
sheets separately between very smooth copper plates, and then passing
them through rollers, which impart a pressure of from 20 to 30 tons.
After only three or four such pressures, it is simply called rolled
(5), but if passed through more frequently, the paper acquires a
higher surface, and is then called glazed (6).
The paper-making machine (see frontispiece) is constructed to imitate
in a great measure, and in some respects to improve, the processes
used in making paper by hand; but its chief advantages are the
increased rapidity with which it accomplishes the manufacture, and
the means of producing paper of any size which can practically be
required.
By the agency of this admirable contrivance, which is so adjusted as
to produce the intended effect with unerring precision, a process,
which in the old system of paper-making, occupied about three
_weeks_, is now performed in as many _minutes_.
The paper-making machine is supplied from the “chest” or reservoir
(F), into which the pulp descends from the beating engine, when
sufficiently ground; being kept in constant motion, as it descends,
by means of the agitator (G), in order that it shall not settle. From
this reservoir the pulp is again conveyed by a pipe into what is
technically termed the “lifter” (H), which consists of a cast-iron
wheel, enclosed in a wooden case, and having a number of buckets
affixed to its circumference. The trough (I), placed immediately
beneath the endless wire (K) is for the purpose of receiving
the water which drains away from the pulp during the process of
manufacture, and as this water is frequently impregnated with certain
chemicals used in connexion with paper-making, it is returned again
by a conducting spout, into the “lifter,” where, by the rotation of
the buckets, both the pulp and back-water become again thoroughly
mixed, and are together raised by the lifter through the spout (L)
into the vat (M) where the pulp is strained by means of a sieve or
“knotter,” as it is called, which is usually formed of brass, having
fine slits cut in it to allow the comminuted pulp to pass through,
while it retains all lumps and knots; and so fine are these openings,
in order to free the pulp entirely from anything which would be
liable to damage the quality of the paper, that it becomes necessary
to apply a means of exhaustion underneath, in order to facilitate the
passage of the pulp through the strainer.
I have frequently examined a mass of these lumps collected upon the
top of the knotter, more particularly when printing papers are being
manufactured, and have generally found them composed, to a very great
extent, of India Rubber, which is a source of much greater annoyance
to the paper maker than is readily conceived. For, in the first
place, it is next to impossible in sorting and cutting the rags to
free them entirely from the braiding, and so forth, with which ladies
will insist upon adorning their dresses, and in the next, the bleach
failing to act upon a substance of that character, the quality of the
paper becomes greatly deteriorated, by the large black specks which
it occasions, and which, by the combined heat and pressure of the
rolls and cylinders, enlarge considerably as it proceeds.
Passing from this strainer the pulp is next made to distribute
itself equally throughout the entire width of the machine, and is
afterwards allowed to flow over a small lip or ledge, in a regular
and even stream, whence it is received by the upper surface of the
endless wire (K), upon which the first process of manufacture takes
place. Of course the thickness of the paper depends in some measure
upon the speed at which the machine is made to travel, but it is
mainly determined by the quantity of pulp allowed to flow upon the
wire, which by various contrivances can be regulated to great nicety.
Among the specimens at the end, you will find one, No. 7, which
was made by this machine, and which is considerably less than the
thousandth of an inch in thickness,—a thousand sheets measuring but
three quarters of an inch. And I would call your attention to the
fact, that although so thin, it is capable of being coloured, it is
capable of being glazed, it is capable of receiving a water-mark;
and what is perhaps still more astonishing, a strip not exceeding
four inches in width, will be found capable of sustaining a weight of
twenty pounds: so great is its tenacity.
But, to return to the machine itself. The quantity of pulp required
to flow from the vat (M) being determined; it is first received
by the continuous woven wire (K), upon which it forms itself into
paper. This wire-gauze, which resembles a jack-towel, passing over
the small copper rollers (N), round the larger one marked (O), and
being kept in proper tension by two others placed underneath. A
gentle vibratory motion from side to side is given to the wire,
which assists to spread the pulp evenly, and also to facilitate the
separation of the water, and by this means, aided by a suction pump,
the pulp solidifies as it advances. The two black squares on either
side of the “dandy” roller (P) indicate the position of two wooden
boxes, from which the air is partially exhausted, thus causing the
atmospheric pressure to operate in compacting the pulp into paper,
the water and moisture being drawn through the wire, and the pulp
retained on the surface.
Next, we have to notice the deckle or boundary straps (Q) which
regulate the width of the paper, travelling at the same rate as the
wire, and thus limiting the spread of pulp. The “dandy” roller (P),
is employed to give any impression to the paper that may be required.
We may suppose for instance, that the circumference of that roller
answers exactly to the length or breadth of the wire forming a hand
mould, which, supposing such wire to be fixed or curved in that form,
would necessarily leave the same impression as when employed in the
ordinary way. Being placed between the air boxes, the paper becomes
impressed by it when in a half formed state, and whatever marks are
thus made, the paper will effectually retain. The marks seen in
Specimens 2, 3, 4, and 5, have been occasioned by a hand mould, those
in 6, 7, 9, and 11, are impressions given by a dandy roller. The two
rollers following the dandy, marked (R) and (O), are termed couching
rollers, from their performing a similar operation in the manufacture
of machine-made papers, to the business of the coucher in conducting
the process by hand. They are simply wooden rollers covered with
felt. In some instances, however, the upper couch roll (R) is made
to answer a double purpose. In making writing or other papers, where
smalts, ultramarine, and various colours are used, considerable
difference will frequently be found in the tint of the paper when
the two sides are compared, in consequence of the colouring matter
sinking to the lower side, by the natural subsidence of the water, or
from the action of the suction boxes; and to obviate this, instead
of employing the ordinary couch roll, which acts upon the _upper_
surface of the paper, a hollow one is substituted, having a suction
box within it, acted upon by an air pump, which tends in some measure
to counteract the effect, justly considered objectionable. Merging
from those rollers the paper is received from the wire-gauze by a
continuous felt (S), which conducts it through two pair of pressing
rollers, and afterwards to the drying cylinders. You will observe,
that the paper, after passing through the first pair of rollers,
is carried along the felt for some distance, and then turned over,
in order to receive a corresponding pressure on the other side,
thus obviating the inequality of surface which would otherwise be
apparent, especially if the paper were to be employed for books.
The advantage gained by the use of so great a length of felt, is
simply, that it becomes less necessary to stop the machine for the
purpose of washing it, than would be the case if the felt were
limited in length to its absolute necessity.
In some instances, when the paper being made is sized in the pulp
with such an ingredient as _resin_, the felt becomes so completely
clogged in the space of a few hours, that unless a very great and
apparently unnecessary length of felt be employed, a considerable
waste of time is constantly incurred in washing or changing the felt.
To obviate all this—whether waste of time or waste of felt—I have
suggested in one or two quarters, the propriety of passing the felt,
as it returns from conducting the paper to the heated cylinders,
through a trough of water, and while travelling through the water to
apply suction boxes to both the upper and lower surface of the felt,
which by an alternate action, might be made sufficiently powerful to
remove all impurity, without in any way obstructing the progress of
the felt; which if found necessary, might be assisted, while at the
same time the felt would be restored to its original condition, by
employing a suction _roller_ to which a steady motion was given in
connexion with the machine.
The operation of the manufacture will now be apparent. The pulp
flowing from the reservoir into the lifter, and thence through the
strainer, passes over a small lip to the continuous wire, being
there partially compacted by the shaking motion, more thoroughly
so on its passage over the air boxes, receiving any desired marks
by means of the dandy roller passing over the continuous felt
between the first pressing rollers, then turned over to receive a
corresponding pressure on the other side, and from thence off to the
drying cylinders, which are heated more or less by injected steam;
the cylinder which receives the paper first, being heated less than
the second, the second than the third, and so on; the paper after
passing over those cylinders, being finally wound upon a reel, as
shown, unless it be printing paper, which can be sized sufficiently
in the pulp, by an admixture of alum, soda, and resin, or the like;
in which case it may be at once conducted to the cutting machine,
to be divided into any length and width required. But, supposing it
to be intended for writing purposes, it has first to undergo a more
effectual method of sizing, as shown in the accompanying drawing.
The size in this instance being made from parings obtained from
tanners, curriers, and parchment-makers, as employed in the case of
hand-made papers. Of course, sizing in the pulp or in the engine
offers many advantages, but as gelatine, or animal size, which is
really essential for all good writing qualities, cannot at present
be employed during the process of manufacturing by the machine
without injury to the felts, it becomes necessary to pass the web
of paper, after it has been dried by the cylinders, through this
apparatus.
[Illustration: SIZING APPARATUS]
In most cases, however, the paper is at once guided as it issues from
the machine, through the tub of size, and is thence carried over
the skeleton drums shown, inside each of which are a number of fans
rapidly revolving; sometimes there are forty or fifty of these drums
in succession, the whole confined in a chamber heated by steam. I
have seen a paper machine with the sizing apparatus attached, which
from the wire-cloth where the pulp first flows on, to the cutting
machine at the extremity, measured no less than one thousand feet.
The advantage of drying the paper in this manner over so many of
these drums is, that it turns out much harder and stronger, than
if dried more rapidly over heated cylinders. Some manufacturers
adopt a peculiar process of sizing, which in fact answers very much
better, and is alike applicable to papers made by hand or by machine,
provided the latter description be first cut into pieces or sheets of
the required dimensions. The contrivance consists of two revolving
felts, between which the sheets are carried under several rollers
through a long trough of size, being afterwards hung up to dry upon
lines, previously to rolling or glazing. The paper thus sized becomes
much harder and stronger, by reason of the freedom with which the
sheets can contract in drying; and this is mainly the reason why
paper made by hand continues to be so much tougher than that made by
the machine, in consequence of the natural tendency of the pulp to
contract in drying, and consequently becoming, where no resistance
is offered, more entwined or entangled, which of course adds very
considerably to the strength and durability of the paper. In making
by the machine, this tendency, you will observe, is completely
checked.
The next operation which we have to notice, now that the paper is
finished, is that of cutting it into standard sizes. Originally,
the reel upon which it was finally wound, was formed so that its
diameter might be lessened or increased at pleasure, according to
the sizes which were required. Thus, for instance, supposing we
wanted to cut the web of paper into sheets of 18 inches in length,
we should either lessen the diameter of the reel to 6 inches, and
thus the circumference to 18 inches, or if convenient increase it to
36 inches, afterwards cutting the paper in two with a large knife,
similar in size and shape to that employed by a cheesemonger; the
width of the web being regulated by the deckle straps (Q) to either
twice or three times the width of the sheet, as the case might be.
However, in regard to the length considerable waste, of necessity,
arose, from the great increase in the circumference of the reel as
the paper was wound upon it, and to remedy this, several contrivances
have been invented. To dwell upon their various peculiarities or
separate stages of improvement, would, no doubt, prove to the general
reader of little comparative interest, I shall, therefore, confine my
attention to a brief explanation of the cutting machine, of which I
have given an illustration, and which is unquestionably the best, as
well as the most ingenious, invention of the kind.
The first movement or operation peculiar to this machine is that of
cutting the web of paper longitudinally, into such widths as may be
required. And this is effected by means of circular blades, placed at
stated distances, which receive the paper as it issues direct from
the other machinery, and by a very swift motion, much greater than
that at which the paper travels, slit it up with unerring precision
wherever they may be fixed.
A pair of those circular blades is shown in the drawing (_a_), the
upper one being much larger than the lower, which is essential to
the smoothness of the cut. And not only is the upper blade larger
in circumference, but it is also made to revolve with much greater
rapidity, by means of employing a small pinion, worked by one at
least twice its diameter, which is fixed upon the same shaft as the
lower blade, to which the motive power is applied. The action aimed
at is precisely such as we obtain from a pair of scissors.
The web, as it is termed by the paper-maker, being thus severed
longitudinally, the next operation is that of cutting it off into
sheets of some particular length horizontally; and to do this
requires a most ingenious movement. To give a very general idea of
the contrivance, the dotted line is intended to represent the paper
travelling on with a rapidity in some cases of 80 feet per minute,
and yet its course has to be temporarily arrested while the required
separation is effected, and that too without the paper’s accumulating
in any mass, or getting creased in the slightest degree.
[Illustration: CUTTING MACHINE.]
The large drum (_b_), over which the paper passes, in the direction
indicated by the arrows, has simply an alternating motion, which
serves to gather the paper in such lengths as may be required. The
crank arm (_c_), which is capable of any adjustment either at top or
bottom, regulating the extent of the movement backwards and forwards,
and thus the length of the sheet. As soon as the paper to be cut
off has passed below the point (_d_), at which a _presser_ is
suspended, having an alternating motion given to it, in order to make
it approach to, and recede from, a stationary presser-board; it is
taken hold of as it descends from the drum, and the length pendant
from the presser, is instantly cut off by the moveable knife (_e_),
to which motion is given by the crank (_f_), the connecting rod
(_g_), the lever (_h_), and the connecting rod (_i_). The combined
motion of these rods and levers, admits of the moveable knife (_e_),
remaining nearly quiescent for a given time, and then speedily
closing upon the fixed knife (_k_), cutting off the paper in a
similar manner to a pair of shears, when it immediately slides down
a board, or in some instances is carried along a revolving felt, at
the extremity of which several men or boys are placed to receive the
sheets, according to the number into which the width of the web is
divided.
As soon as the pressers are closed for a length of paper to be cut
off, the motion of the gathering drum is reversed, smoothing out
the paper upon its surface, which is now held between the pressers;
the tension roll (_l_), taking up the slack in the paper as it
accumulates, or rather bearing it gently down, until the movement of
the drum is again reversed to furnish another length. The handle
(_m_), is employed merely to stop a portion of the machinery, should
the water-mark not fall exactly in the centre of the sheet, when by
this means it can be momentarily adjusted.
The paper being thus made, and cut up into sheets of stated
dimensions, is next looked over and counted out into quires of 24
sheets, and afterwards into reams of 20 quires; which subsequently,
under the superintendence of an Excise Officer, are carefully weighed
and stamped, previously to their being sent into the market.
Connected with the manufacture of paper, there is one point of
considerable interest and importance, and that is, what is commonly,
but erroneously, termed the _water-mark_, which may be noticed in the
Times Newspaper, in the New Bank of England Notes, Cheques and Bills,
as also in every Postage and Receipt Label of the present day.
The curious, and in some instances absurd terms, which now puzzle
us so much in describing the different sorts and sizes of paper,
may frequently be explained by reference to the various paper-marks
which have been adopted at different periods. In ancient times, when
comparatively few people could read, pictures of every kind were
much in use where writing would now be employed. Every shop, for
instance, had its sign, as well as every public-house, and those
signs were not then, as they often are now, only painted upon a
board, but were invariably actual models of the thing which the sign
expressed—as we still occasionally see some such sign as a bee-hive,
a tea-canister, or a doll, and the like. For the same reason printers
employed some device, which they put upon the title pages and at the
end of their books, and paper makers also introduced marks, by way of
distinguishing the paper of their manufacture from that of others;
which marks becoming common, naturally gave their names to different
sorts of paper. And since names often remain long after the origin of
them is forgotten and circumstances are changed, it is not surprising
to find the old names still in use, though in some cases they are
not applied to the same things which they originally denoted. One of
the illustrations of ancient water-mark which I have given in the
accompanying plate; that of an open hand with a star at the top,
which was in use as early as 1530; probably gave the name to what is
still called _hand_ paper.
Another very favourite paper-mark, at a subsequent period 1540-60,
was the jug or pot, which is also shown, and would appear to have
originated the term _pot_ paper. The foolscap was a later device, and
does not appear to have been nearly of such long continuance as the
former. It has given place to the figure of Britannia, or that of
a lion rampant, supporting the cap of liberty on a pole. The name,
however, has continued, and we still denominate paper of a particular
size, by the title of _foolscap_. The original figure has the cap and
bells, of which we so often read in old plays and histories, as the
particular head-dress of the fool, who at one time formed part of
every great man’s establishment.
I have met with the water-mark of a cap, much simpler than that which
we have just noticed, somewhat resembling the jockey-caps of the
present day, with a trifling ornamentation or addition to the upper
part. The first edition of “Shakspeare,” printed by _Isaac Jaggard &
Ed. Blount_, 1623, will be found to contain this mark, interspersed
with several others of a different character. No doubt the general
use of the term _cap_ to various papers of the present day owes its
origin to marks of this description.
The term _imperial_ was in all probability derived from the finest
specimens of papyri, which were so called by the ancients.
[Illustration: (Water-marks)]
Post paper seems to have derived its name from the post-horn,
which at one time was its distinguishing mark. It does not appear
to have been used prior to the establishment of the general
post-office (1670), when it became the custom to blow a horn, to
which circumstance no doubt we may attribute its introduction. The
mark is still frequently used, but the same change which has so much
diminished the number of painted signs in the streets of our towns
and cities, has nearly made paper-marks a matter of antiquarian
curiosity; the maker’s name being now generally used, and the mark,
in the few instances where it still remains, serving the purpose of
mere ornament, rather than that of distinction.
Water-marks, however, have at various periods been the means of
detecting frauds, forgeries and impositions, in our courts of law
and elsewhere, to say nothing of the protection they afford in the
instances already referred to, such as bank notes, cheques, receipt,
bill, and postage stamps. The celebrated Curran once distinguished
himself in a case which he had undertaken, by shrewdly referring
to the water-mark, which effectually determined the verdict. And
another instance, which I introduce merely in the form of an amusing
anecdote, occurred once at Messina, where the monks of a certain
monastery exhibited, with great triumph, a letter as being written
by the Virgin Mary with her own hand. Unluckily for them, however,
this was not, as it easily might have been, written upon the ancient
papyrus, but on paper made of rags. On one occasion a visitor, to
whom this was shown, observed, with affected solemnity, that the
letter involved also a _miracle_, for the paper on which it was
written was not in existence until several centuries after the mother
of our Lord had died.
A further illustration of the kind occurs in a work entitled
“Ireland’s Confessions,” which was published respecting his
fabrication of the Shakspeare manuscripts,—a literary forgery even
still more remarkable, I think, than that which is said to have been
perpetrated by Chatterton, as Rowley’s Poems.
The interest which at the time was universally felt in this
production of Ireland’s, may be partially gathered from the fact,
that the whole of the original edition, which appeared in the form
of a shilling pamphlet, was disposed of in a few hours; while so
great was the eagerness to obtain copies afterwards, that single
impressions were sold in an auction room at the extravagant price of
a guinea.
This gentleman tells us, at one part of his explanation, that the
sheet of paper which he used was the outside of several others,
on some of which accounts had been kept in the reign of Charles
the First; and being at that time wholly unacquainted with the
water-marks used in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, “I carefully
selected (says he) two half-sheets, not having any mark whatever,
on which I penned my first effusion.” A few pages further on
he writes—“Being thus urged forward to the production of more
manuscripts, it became necessary that I should possess a sufficient
quantity of old paper to enable me to proceed, in consequence
of which I applied to a bookseller, named Verey, in Great May’s
Buildings, St. Martin’s Lane, who, for the sum of five shillings,
suffered me to take from all the folio and quarto volumes in his
shop, the fly leaves which they contained. By this means I was
amply stored with that commodity; nor did I fear any mention of the
circumstance by Mr. Verey, whose quiet unsuspecting disposition, I
was well convinced, would never lead him to make the transaction
public, in addition to which he was not likely even to know anything
concerning the supposed Shaksperian discovery by myself, and even
if he had, I do not imagine that my purchase of the old paper
in question, would have excited in him the smallest degree of
suspicion. As I was fully aware from the variety of water-marks
which are in existence at the present day, that they must have
constantly been altered since the period of Elizabeth, and being
for some time wholly unacquainted with the water-marks of that age,
I very carefully produced my first specimens of the writing on
such sheets of old paper as had no mark whatever. Having heard it
frequently stated that the appearance of such marks on the papers
would have greatly tended to establish their validity, I listened
attentively to every remark which was made upon the subject, and
from thence I at length gleaned the intelligence that a jug was the
prevalent water-mark of the reign of Elizabeth, in consequence of
which I inspected all the sheets of old paper then in my possession,
and having selected such as had the jug upon them, I produced the
succeeding manuscripts upon these, being careful, however, to mingle
with them a certain number of blank leaves, that the production
on a sudden of so many water-marks might not excite suspicion in
the breasts of those persons who were most conversant with the
manuscripts.”
Thus, this notorious literary forgery, through the cunning ingenuity
of the perpetrator, ultimately proved so successful as to deceive
many learned and able critics of the age. Indeed, on one occasion a
kind of certificate was drawn up, stating that the undersigned names
were affixed by gentlemen who entertained no doubt whatever as to the
validity of the Shaksperian production, and that they voluntarily
gave such public testimony of their convictions upon the subject. To
this document several names were appended by persons as conspicuous
for their erudition as they were pertinacious in their opinions.
The water-mark in the form of a letter _p_, of which I have given an
illustration, is taken from Caxton’s well-known work, “The Game of
the Chesse,” a _fac simile_ of which is about to be published as a
tribute to his memory. Paper has recently been made expressly for the
purpose, in exact representation of the original, and containing this
water-mark, which will be found common in works printed by him.
The ordinary mode of effecting such paper marks as we have been
describing is that of affixing a stout wire in the form of any object
to be represented to the surface of the fine wire-gauze, of which the
hand-mould, or machine dandy roller is constructed.
The perfection, however, to which water-marks have now attained,
which in many instances is really very beautiful, is owing to a more
ingenious method recently patented, and since adopted by the Bank
of England, as affording considerable protection to the public in
determining the genuineness of a bank note.
For the original idea of producing light and shade, as seen in
specimens 1, 13, and 15, we are indebted to Mr. Wm. Henry Smith,
whose patient perseverance, and laborious efforts, at length enabled
him to overcome many difficulties, and finally to produce not only
any peculiarity of design, however complicate, but also to secure
its repetition with a certainty of uniformity which, in the process
of manufacture as hitherto conducted, it was found impossible to
accomplish.
To produce a line water-mark of the character shown in specimens
10, 12, and 16, or of any of the autographs or crests in No. 14,
(which sheet was produced from the mould which I employed at the
London Institution,) we might either engrave the pattern or device
first in some yielding surface, precisely as we should engrave a
copper-plate for printing, and afterwards by immersing the plate
in a solution of sulphate of copper, and electrotyping it in the
usual way, allow the interstices of the engraving to give it as
were a casting of pure copper, and thus an exact representation of
the original device, which, upon being removed from the plate, and
affixed to the surface of the wire-gauze forming the mould, would
produce a corresponding impression in the paper: or, supposing
perfect identity to be essential, as in the case of a bank note, we
might engrave the design upon the surface of a steel die, taking care
to cut those parts in the die deepest which are intended to give
greater effect in the paper, and then, after having hardened, and
otherwise properly prepared the die, it would be placed under a steam
hammer or other stamping apparatus, for the purpose of producing
what is technically termed a “force,” which is required to assist in
transferring an impression from the die to a plate of sheet brass.
This being done, the die, with the mould-plate in it, would next be
taken to a perforating or cutting machine, where the back of the
mould-plate—that is the portion which projects above the face of the
die—would be removed, while that portion which was impressed into the
design engraven, would remain untouched, and this being subsequently
taken from the interstices of the die and placed in a frame upon a
backing of fine wire-cloth, becomes a mould for the manufacture of
paper of the pattern which is desired, or for the production of any
water-mark, autograph, crest or device, however complicate.
Light and shade, as seen in Nos. 1, 13, and 15, are occasioned by a
very similar process, but one which perhaps requires a little more
care, and necessarily becomes somewhat more tedious. For instance, in
the former case the pulp is distributed equally throughout the entire
surface of the wire forming the mould, whereas _now_ we have to
contrive the means of increasing to a very great nicety the thickness
or distribution of the pulp, and at the same time to make provision
for the water’s draining away. This has been accomplished, as in the
case of No. 13, by first taking an electrotype of the raised surface
of any model or design, and again from that, forming in a similar
manner a matrix or mould, both of which are subsequently mounted upon
lead or gutta percha, in order that they may withstand the pressure
which is required to be put upon them in giving impression to a
sheet of very fine copper wire-gauze, which, in the form of a mould,
and in the hands of the vatman, suffices ultimately to produce such
beautiful transparent effects in paper pulp as those to which I have
called your attention. By similar means a portrait of the Emperor
Napoleon was produced for the Paris Exhibition.
The other specimens, 1 and 15, are produced in the same manner as
the word “Five” in the centre of the new Bank of England note. The
deepest shadows in the water-mark being occasioned by the deepest
engraving upon the die, the lightest, by the shallowest, and so
forth; the die being employed to give impression by means of the
stamping press and “force” to the fine wire-gauze itself, which by
this means, providing the die be properly cut, is accomplished far
more successfully than by any other process, and with the additional
advantage of securing perfect identity.
It may be interesting to call attention to the contrast as regards
the method of mould-making originally practised, and that which has
recently been adopted by the Bank of England. In a pair of five
pound note moulds, prepared by the old process, there were 8 curved
borders, 16 figures, 168 large waves, and 240 letters, which had all
to be separately secured by the finest wire to the waved surface.
There were 1,056 wires, 67,584 twists, and the same repetition
where the stout wires were introduced to support the under surface.
Therefore, with the backing, laying, large waves, figures, letters,
and borders, before a pair of moulds was completed, there were some
hundreds of thousands of stitches, most of which are now avoided by
the new patent. But further, by this multitudinous stitching and
sewing, the parts were never placed precisely in the same position,
and the water-mark was consequently never identical. Now, the
same die gives impression to the metal which transfers it to the
water-mark, with a certainty of identity unattainable before, and one
could almost say, never to be surpassed.
But, as it has been properly remarked, may we not detect principles
in this process which are not only valuable to the Bank, but to all
public establishments having important documents on paper, for what
can exceed the value of such a test for discovering the deceptions
of dishonest men. One’s signature, crest, or device of any kind,
rendering the paper exclusively one’s own, can now be secured in a
pair of moulds, at the cost merely of a few guineas.
Thus then, I have endeavoured briefly to glance at all the varied
manipulations comprised in the term Paper Making; from the soiled
rags, which by this regenerating process, are converted into pure
and spotless paper, and thence to the operations which in degree
distinguish it, until finally, the stronger the test for illuminating
its perfection, but suffices to prove it of that most aristocratic
class, to which belongs our new bank note.
CHAPTER III.
Anecdote of an over-curious enquirer—Its probable application
to many readers—Paper Making, when straightforward, extremely
simple, but ordinarily involving considerable chemical and
practical skill—Brief review of artificial aids—Anecdotes of
the deleterious effects of bleaching, and of imparting colour
to the “stuff”—Ultramarine, its use and abuse—Manufactured
Paper, its varieties and peculiarities—Excise Regulations—Paper
Duty—Conclusion.
Not long since I heard of a very inquisitive gentleman, as some
people would term him, who wrote to a friend of mine asking him to
obtain certain information respecting the manufacture of _isinglass_;
and although the questions put, were by no means essential to general
knowledge, my friend complied with his request, and forwarded the
application to the party immediately interested in its production;
who, with similar promptitude undertook to furnish the answers
per return of post, upon receiving from the anxious applicant a
repetition of the inquiry, accompanied by his cheque for three
thousand pounds.
Now, it is not at all improbable that many into whose hands this
book may fall will be disposed to charge me with similar motives,
as concealing secrets connected with paper making. It is, however,
a reliable fact, that nothing can be more simple or straightforward
than the manufacture of that, which, for want of a more comprehensive
expression, I must denominate _genuine paper_. Chemical aid, combined
with great practical skill, is absolutely indispensable, I admit, to
enable one to keep pace with competition in the present day; when
even the rags and tatters, cast off by the very poorest of the poor,
may now be forwarded after sunrise, many miles distant, and before
sunset, received back again converted into a becoming ground-work
for the most enchanting _billet-doux_. Still, productions of this
character, when contrasted with the results of a slow and simple
manipulation of finer materials, even to the unpractised eye, will
be found far inferior, as regards the one grand test of superiority,
viz., _durability_. The slower the process of manufacture is
conducted from beginning to end, from the trituration of the “stuff”
in the rag engine, to the formation of the sheet, its sizing, drying,
and rolling, the stronger and more durable will the paper ultimately
turn out. No. 17, which is a specimen of paper thus carefully
made, and almost as tough and durable as parchment, is capable of
sustaining a weight of no less than 200 lbs., simply by means of a
slip the width of a bank note. If, however, we glance at the other
extreme, and take the aids frequently adopted to produce paper of
apparent excellence from comparatively worthless materials, we shall
find occasion to regret more than one form of artificial assistance,
which is perpetually liable to objection. The effects, for instance,
of excessive bleaching are still occasionally manifested, although
by a better system of washing the pulp and the use of counteracting
chemicals, evils which at one time resulted therefrom are now mainly
checked. Within the recollection of my father, it was not at all an
uncommon occurrence for a parcel of paper to become so completely
perished from the circumstance of its not having been thoroughly
washed after bleaching, that to draw a sheet as a sample, and to
fold it up in the usual way, was found utterly impossible, without
the sheets being cracked or broken at every fold. In some instances,
the fibre was so completely destroyed, that an entire ream, composed
of 480 sheets, might be as readily snapped asunder as a piece of
rotten wood, merely by giving it a sharp blow against the back of a
chair. The evils and inconveniences which must have resulted from
this are altogether incalculable. Mr. Hansard (“Typographia,” 1825,)
thus writes, “Whole piles of quired stock, meaning books unbound, are
already crumbling to dust in the warehouses of booksellers, never
to come to light as books, and many a volume designed to enrich the
library of its possessor and to descend as an heir-loom to posterity,
now presents to the mortified owner its elegant print surrounded by
a margin of tan colour, which in some instances forms, as it were, a
complete frame round each page, the oil varnish in the composition
of the ink seeming to preserve the interstices between the print
from the same kind of discoloration. School books (he adds) printed
on this species of paper, will scarcely last out their destined
period, from one vacation to the next.” Another gentleman informs us,
speaking of a quantity of Bibles, which were printed for the British
and Foreign Bible Society, that one in his possession, printed at the
University press at Oxford in 1816, (which had never been used) was
then, within a year or two afterwards, literally crumbling into dust.
“Almost the entire book of Genesis (says he) has mouldered away, and
left not a trace behind.” Of course, paper of this description (if it
deserves the name at all) would prove very bad stock in like manner
for the stationer, being for any purpose whatever as utterly useless
as it was worthless, with but one exception, which in the case of a
large parcel of this description, I understand, was once adopted,
viz., that of shipping it in very common cases, thus securing the
drawback, which, at that time, was far more worth consideration
than it would be now, and eventually consigning it to the fate of
innumerable other treasures within the boundless limits of the ocean.
If to speak of the various artificial aids which the manufacturer has
recourse to in the present day be necessary, it surely cannot but be
equally advisable, to point out their main cause; and if blame exist
at all, or fault be found, it cannot, I apprehend, be rested with
greater safety than with those who, stipulating their own terms, must
of necessity be supplied in their own way. The paper maker requires
to be remunerated; and with competition to grapple with and contend
against, not only all the improvements which mechanical science is
capable of supplying, must be adopted by him, but even in many cases,
however much to be regretted, he is tempted to an intermixture of
noxious and heterogeneous materials, in order that the minimum price
may be attained.
Some specimens of paper will be found to contain as much as
one-fourth their weight of gypsum; and in fact, even worse material,
as a means of adulteration, is as eagerly sought after by the
manufacturer of paper, as the public generally, to the sacrifice of
quality, seek the cheapest article which it is possible to procure. I
need but refer, as an instance, to the packing papers of the present
day, of which one sheet properly made (25), contrasted with one
of the same weight of the sort usually selected, will be found to
possess three times the amount of strength, although not 10 per cent.
higher in price.
With a finer class of papers common materials are as readily
employed, through the assistance of some colouring matter, which
tends to conceal the imperfection. Indeed, it would be difficult
to name an instance of apparent deception more forcible than that
which is accomplished by the use of ultramarine. Until very recently
the fine bluish tinge given to many writing papers was derived from
the admixture of that expensive mineral blue, the oxide of cobalt,
generally termed _smalts_, and which has still the advantage over the
ultramarine of imparting a colour which will endure for a much longer
period. One pound of ultramarine, however, going further than four
of smalts at the same price, the former necessarily meets with more
extended application, and where the using is rightly understood,
and the materials employed instead of being fine rags, comparative
rubbish, excessively bleached; its application proves remarkably
serviceable in concealing for a time all other irregularities, and
even far surpassing in appearance the best papers of the kind.
At first the introduction of ultramarine led to some difficulty
in sizing the paper, for so long as smalts continued to be used,
any amount of alum might be employed, and it was actually added to
the size to preserve it from putrefaction. But since artificial
ultramarine is bleached by alum, it became of course necessary
to add this salt to the size in very small proportions, and as a
natural consequence, the gelatine was no longer protected from the
action of the air, which led to incipient decomposition, and in such
cases the putrefaction once commenced, proceeded even after the
size was dried on the paper, and gave to it a most offensive smell,
which rendered the paper unsaleable. This difficulty, however, has
now been overcome, and providing the size be quite free from taint
when applied to the paper, and quickly dried, putrefaction will not
subsequently occur; but if decay has once commenced, it cannot be
arrested by drying only.
The practice of blueing the paper pulp had its origin in a singularly
accidental circumstance, which not merely as an historical fact,
but as forming an amusing anecdote, is perhaps worth mentioning.
It occurred about the year 1790, at a paper mill belonging to
Mr. Buttenshaw, whose wife, on the occasion in question, was
superintending the washing of some fine linen, when accidentally
she dropped her bag of powdered blue into the midst of some pulp
in a forward state of preparation, and so great was the fear she
entertained of the mischief she had done, seeing the blue rapidly
amalgamated with the pulp, that all allusion to it was studiously
avoided; until, on Mr. Buttenshaw’s inquiring in great astonishment
what it was that had imparted the peculiar colour to the pulp,
his wife, perceiving that no very great damage had been done,
took courage and at once disclosed the secret, for which she was
afterwards rewarded in a remarkable manner by her husband, who being
naturally pleased with an advance of so much as four shillings per
bundle, upon submitting the _improved_ make to the London market,
immediately purchased a costly scarlet cloak, (somewhat more
congenial to taste in those days, it is presumed, than it would be
now,) which he carefully conveyed home, and presented with much
satisfaction to the sharer of his joy.
Although the practice of blueing paper is not, perhaps, so customary
now as was the case a few years back, the extent to which it is still
carried may be a matter of considerable astonishment. On its first
introduction, when, as regards colour, the best paper was anything
but pleasing, so striking a novelty would no doubt be hailed as a
great improvement, and as such received into general use, but when we
contrast a _first class_ paper now (8), without any colouring matter
whatever, and without any superfluous marks upon its surface, with
the miserable blue tints one so frequently sees, it becomes a source
of surprise, that the superior delicacy of the former is not more
generally appreciated.
The only objection which can be urged against the use of a colourless
paper is, its comparative transparency when glazed in the ordinary
way: but this is by no means essential. A finished surface imparted
by calendering, when contrasted with one more highly glazed, will be
found wholly superior for a writing paper, and unobjectionable as
regards opaqueness.
In paper making, there has seldom, perhaps, arisen a greater
difficulty than in furnishing a supply suited to the purposes of
photography. Unquestionably, great care is requisite in the selection
of the materials, their preparation, and subsequent manufacture.
But the difficulty is owing more to the want of positive information
on the part of the photographer, than to failure in the exertions
of the Paper Maker. I have recently been informed by a gentleman
who has devoted much time and attention to this particular class
of paper, that after forwarding specimens to many score members of
that profession, and inviting observations and suggestions thereon,
not one in ten favoured him with any reply, and of those who did,
although many first-rate names might be mentioned, the conclusions to
which they severally came were totally adverse.
It is not my intention to wander further into the field of paper and
paper making than to mark the boundary which has been set up by Act
of Parliament, in the form of Excise Regulations, with a few general
observations upon the varieties and peculiarities of manufactured
paper, as a becoming and at the present time somewhat important
termination to our subject.
Manufactured paper, independently of the miscellaneous kinds, such as
blotting, filtering, and the like, which are rendered absorbent by
the free use of _woollen_ rags, may be divided into three distinct
classes, _viz._, writing, printing, and wrapping. The former again
into _five_, cream wove (8), yellow wove (17), blue wove (7), cream
laid (16), and blue laid (5). The printing into _two_, laid and wove,
and the latter into _four_, blue (22), purple (24), brown (25), and
whited brown (23), as it is commonly termed. Each of these sorts
ought again to be classified, until it would appear as if not merely
all the wants, wishes, and fancies of mankind had been fully studied
and provided for, but that even the utmost bounds of variety in like
manner had been included, in order to test the comprehensiveness of
human caprice.
To give a simple definition of the mode adopted for distinguishing
the various kinds, I must include, with the class denominated
_writing_ papers, those which are used for drawing, which being sized
in like manner, and with the exception of one or two larger kinds,
of precisely the same dimensions as those passing by the same name,
which are used strictly for writing purposes, (the only distinction,
in fact, being, that the drawings are cream wove, while the writings
are laid,) there would of course be no necessity for separating them.
Indeed, since many of the sizes used for printing are exactly the
same as those which would be named as writing papers, for the sake
of abridgment I will reduce my distinctions of difference to but two
heads, fine and coarse; under the latter, including the ordinary
brown papers, the whited brown, or small hand quality, and the blues
and purples, used by grocers. The smallest size of the fine quality,
as sent from the mill, measures 12½ by 15 inches, and is termed Pot;
next to that Foolscap, 17 by 13½; then Post, 18¾ by 15¼; Copy, 20 by
16; Large Post, 20¾ by 16½; Medium Post, 18 by 23; Sheet-and-third
Foolscap, 23 by 13¼; Sheet-and-half Foolscap, 24½ by 13¼; Double
Foolscap, 27 by 17; Double Pot, 30 by 25; Double Post, 30½ by 19;
Double Crown, 20 by 30; Demy, 20 by 15½; ditto Printing, 22½ by 17¾;
Medium, 22 by 17½; ditto Printing, 23 by 18½; Royal, 24 by 19; ditto
Printing, 25 by 20; Super Royal, 27 by 19; ditto Printing, 21 by 27;
Imperial, 30 by 22; Elephant, 28 by 23; Atlas, 34 by 26; Columbier,
34½ by 23½; Double Elephant, 26¾ by 40; and Antiquarian, 53 by 31.
The different sizes of letter and note paper ordinarily used are
prepared from those kinds by the stationer, whose business consists
chiefly in smoothing the edges of the paper, and afterwards packing
it up in some tasteful form, which serves to attract attention.
Under the characteristic names of coarse papers may be mentioned Kent
Cap, 21 by 18; Bag Cap, 19½ by 24; Havon Cap, 21 by 26; Imperial Cap,
22 by 29; Double 2-lb., 17 by 24; Double 4-lb., 21 by 30; Double
6-lb., 19 by 28; Casing of various dimensions, also Cartridges, with
other descriptive names, besides Middle Hand, 22 by 16; Lumber Hand,
19½ by 29; Royal Hand, 20 by 25; Double Small Hand, 19 by 29; and of
the purples, such significations as Copy Loaf, 16¾ by 21¾, 38-lb.;
Powder Loaf, 18 by 26, 58-lb.; Double Loaf, 16½ by 23, 48-lb.; Single
Loaf, 21½ by 27, 78-lb.; Lump, 23 by 33, 100-lb.; Hambro’, 16½ by
23, 48-lb.; Titler, 29 by 35, 120-lb.; Prussian or Double Lump, 32
by 42, 200-lb.; and so forth, with glazed boards, of various sizes,
used chiefly by printers, for pressing, which are manufactured in
a peculiar manner by hand, the boards being severally composed of
various sheets made in the ordinary way, but turned off the mould one
sheet upon another, until the required substance be attained; a felt
is then placed upon the mass and another board formed. By this means,
the sheets, when pressed, adhere more effectually to each other, and
the boards consequently become much more durable than would be the
case if they were produced by pasting. Indeed, if any great amount
of heat be applied to pasteboards, they will split, and be rendered
utterly useless. The glazing in this case is accomplished by friction.
To complete the category of coarse papers, I ought to mention, as
coming within the range of the Excise, Milled Boards, employed in
bookbinding, of not less than one hundred and fifty descriptions,
that is, as regards sizes and substances. Still, however, an
incomplete idea is conveyed of the extraordinary number of sizes and
descriptions into which paper is at present divided. For instance, I
have said with reference to writing qualities, that there are _five_
kinds, cream wove, yellow wove, blue wove, cream laid, and blue laid,
and again, that of each of those kinds there are numerous sizes; but
in addition there are, as a matter of course, various thicknesses and
makes of each size and kind. In fact, no house in London, carrying
on the wholesale stationery trade, is without a thousand different
sorts; many keep stock of twice that number.
So much having of late been said with reference to a repeal of
what are termed “Taxes on Knowledge,” occasioning thereby many
very erroneous opinions, it may be useful to offer some remarks
upon Excise Regulations in connection with the duty on paper. And,
in adverting to those regulations, we shall have an opportunity
for observing the gradual increase which has taken place in the
consumption, which in some measure tends to illustrate national
advancement in the arts and sciences, and the general extension of
literary pursuits. The Excise duty on paper was first imposed in
the reign of Queen Anne. The statute, bearing date 1711, recites
as a reason for the grant—which no doubt corresponds with that of
_our_ Chancellor of the Exchequer for its continuance—“the necessity
of raising large supplies of money to carry on the present war,
until your Majesty shall be enabled to establish a good and lasting
peace.” The duties at that time were charged on the ream, at rates
varying according to the kind of paper, which was for this purpose
divided into numerous denominations or classes, thus—“That there
shall be raised, levyed, collected, and paid to and for the use of
her Majesty, her heires and successors, for and upon all paper of
what kind soever——which shall at any time or times within, or during
the terme of 32 years, to be reckoned from the foure and twentieth
day of June, one thousand seven hundred and twelve, be made in Great
Britaine, the severall and respective duties hereinafter menc̄oned,
that is to say, for and upon all paper usually called or knowne by
the name of demy fine, which shall be soe made in Great Britaine,
the sume of one shilling and sixpence for every reame, and after
that rate for a greater or lesser quantity.” And in like manner it
goes on, fixing the amount per ream to be paid for second demy, fine
and second crown, fine and second foolscap, fine and second pott,
brown, large cap, small ordinary brown, whited brown, pasteboards,
and lastly, “For and upon all other paper, white or browne, or of
any other colour or kind whatsoever, which shall be made in Great
Britaine as aforesaid, (not being particularly charged in this Act,)
a duty after the rate of twelve pounds for every one hundred pounds
of the true and reall value of the same, and after that rate for
any greater or lesser quantities, which said duties for and upon
the said severall sorts of paper and other the commodities last
menc̄oned to be made in Great Britaine, shall be paid by the makers
thereof respectively.” But this method of drawing distinctions
between different qualities and sizes of paper, being found to lead
to frequent disputes with the Excise, and great inequality in the
charge on the manufactured article at different mills, alterations
were gradually made, till at length it was enacted in the 43rd
year of the reign of George III., “that all paper and pasteboards
should be considered first class, and subject to 3d. per lb. duty,
unless made wholly out of old tarred rope and cordage, without
extracting therefrom the pitch or tar, or any part thereof,” and
the Act further says, “and without any mixture of other materials
therewith;” and “that for every pound weight avoirdupois of paper
made in Great Britain, of the second class or denomination, that
is to say, all brown paper made of old ropes or cordage only, as
aforesaid, a duty of 1½d. per lb.” The professed object of the last
mentioned Act being a simplification of the mode of charging the
duties, the numerous distinct classes into which paper had been
divided being here reduced to two. But again, evasion of the law was
soon discovered to be practicable. Either by a partial purification
of the tarred rope, selecting also that which was most whitened by
use and exposure, and then charging the paper so made (which was
nearly equal to first class in marketable value) with the second
class duty; or as tarred rope increased in price, and some sorts of
first class material very considerably declined, the great temptation
of an extensive evasion of the law necessarily followed, by the use
of first class material in second class paper.
Whether the duty on paper as now imposed, or the Excise regulations
under which that duty is collected, be the more objectionable, is
perhaps difficult to say. Of course, the paper-maker is subjected
to considerable annoyance, and the publisher compelled to submit to
an outlay which he deems unjust, and would very happily dispense
with; but the public are not really affected by it to the extent it
is customary to suppose. The duty at present levied upon paper of
all kinds is _fourteen guineas_ per ton, or a little more than three
halfpence per lb. When, therefore, we hear men pronouncing it “a
most obnoxious tax,” and one “directly opposed to the advancement of
literature,” I freely confess that, for my own part, I hesitate very
much to reiterate their sentiments.
Some, however, prefer an intermediate course, and propose a _partial_
abolition of the duty. Mr. Charles Dickens has favoured us with a
suggestion to this effect: he says, “In England, where _coloured_
paper is so little used, the Chancellor of the Exchequer might as
well, as not, take off the duty altogether from coloured paper. It
would cost the revenue a mere trifle, while it would be a vast boon
to the public.” But what induces this assertion? If coloured paper
is so little used, the trifling reduction could not be considered
a _vast boon_. And one would like to know how or where it would be
possible to draw a line of distinction between such papers as are
coloured and those which are not. I happen to be in a position to
assert that there is no class of paper whatever, which is not tinted
more or less by different manufacturers. To suggest then a partial
repeal of the duty upon such grounds, is, I apprehend, useless.
If it had been confessed that the reduction would be a boon to the
publisher, I should promptly have assented, simply because I am
equally well aware that printing paper may be slightly tinted, with
considerable advantage both as regards setting off the type, and the
general appearance of a work; consequently if such really were to
the public a boon, to the publisher it would be very considerably
increased.
However, in order that we may not be supposed to lean to the present
regulations, I shall refer to one or two clauses of the Act which I
have no doubt will suffice to show, that while in itself it is very
far from perfect in its operation, as protecting the interests of
those concerned, it is equally unsatisfactory, and in some respects
unjust.
I shall observe, that with regard to the Tax itself, I simply
question whether it would be possible to impose one less injurious
to the well-being of society, and against which, as of necessity,
fewer persons could have cause to murmur, than the existing duty on
paper. The sections of the Act to which I content myself with calling
attention, are _three_, affecting the convenience and interest of the
manufacturer, and _one_ which offers a ready opportunity for an act
of seeming dishonesty.
Every step of the manufacture of paper must be conducted under
the surveillance of the Excise, and the provisions as to entries,
folding, weighing, sorting, labelling, removing, and so on, are not
only exceedingly numerous and vexatious, but enforced under heavy
penalties. For instance, every paper maker is required by sections
20 & 21, to provide suitable scales and weights for the use of the
Excise, and also to assist the officer in what we might conceive to
be the execution of his peculiar duty, under the penalties, in the
former case of £100., and in the latter, £50. for every refusal or
neglect. To many manufacturers the cost of this extra labour alone
becomes an important consideration.
Again, in the instance of procuring the Excise labels, which have to
be pasted on each ream, section 9 requires that every one signed for
by the workman on delivery, must be produced or accounted for, under
a penalty of £10. each, which is equal to the duty upon no less than
1600 lbs. weight of paper; an idea necessarily inconsistent with that
of its being packed in one parcel; and therefore, since for every
time we divide such quantity, an additional label is required, a
very forcible argument against so excessive a penalty may readily be
deduced.
The labels employed are of three colours,—red, blue, and green;
denoting in which part of the kingdom the paper was made. Red being
used for England; blue, for Scotland; and green for Ireland.
The 27th section of the Act, relating to the real and nominal weight
of each ream or parcel, is that to which I have referred as being
liable to deceptive or dishonest purposes. It runs thus—“And be it
enacted—That if any ream, &c., be found to weigh under or over the
weight marked, in the proportion of 5 per centum, if the weight
marked on such ream exceed twenty pounds, or 10 per centum if such
weight be twenty pounds or less, the same shall be forfeited.”
Of course there is no necessity for a proviso lest the maker should
give a preference to an increase of weight upon that marked, but
since some cylinder dried papers are apt afterwards to increase in
weight, the addition is requisite to prevent unjust seizure. However,
in all probability, at the suggestion of the paper maker, when aiding
the Excise, in consequence of a great quantity to be charged, it has
become customary to average the weight of a draft, instead of putting
each ream separately into the scale. Thus the practicability of
rendering this clause highly objectionable will be at once apparent,
and deserves to be pointed out for the purpose of warning against the
temptation.
The quantity of paper manufactured in this country at the
commencement of the eighteenth century, when the duty was first
imposed, appears to have been far from sufficient to meet the
necessities of the time. Even in 1721, it is supposed that there were
but about 300,000 reams of paper annually produced in Great Britain,
which were equal merely to two-thirds of the consumption. But in
1784, the value of the paper manufactured in England alone is stated
to have amounted to £800,000.; and that, by reason of the increase
in price, as also of its use, in less than twenty years, it nearly
doubled that amount.
I have extracted, from a Parliamentary report, various returns
relating to the Excise duties levied upon paper, which, since an
article of the kind is necessarily subjected to great alteration in
value, according to the scarcity or abundance of raw materials, are,
of course, better calculated to show a steady increase in the demand,
than any mere references to statements of supposed value, from time
to time.
In one return, specifying the rates of duty and amount of duty
received upon each denomination of paper since 1770, it appears that
the total amount of duty on paper manufactured in England for the
year 1784, to which I have just alluded as being estimated in value
at £800,000., was £46,867. 19s. 9¼d., the duty at that time being
divided into seven distinct classes or rates of collection; while
twenty years after, when the mode of assessing the duty was reduced
to but three classes, it had risen to £315,802. 4s. 8d.; in 1830,
fifteen years after, to £619,824. 7s. 11d.; in 1835, for the United
Kingdom, to £833,822. 12s. 4d., or, in weight, to 70,655,287 lbs.,
which was, again, within so short a period as fifteen years, very
nearly doubled. The quantity of paper charged with Excise duty in the
United Kingdom, being, in 1850, no less than 141,032,474 lbs., and
last year (1854) the enormous weight of 179,896,222 lbs.
Those observations, which are partly technical, because, without
technicality, the view would be incomplete,—may give some idea of
the skill required in the workman, and the expenditure demanded of
the capitalist, to produce so simple a thing, as a sheet of paper.
The most exact care, the most ingenious invention, the nicest work
of hand, and the most complicated machinery, are essential to that
superiority which the British manufacture of paper has at length
established.
But the capabilities of paper are still more extensive. There are
probably few branches of use, taste, or ornament, to which it may not
be applicable. We have it already moulded into many forms of utility,
and even of elegance, under the well-known name of _papier mache_—a
material which may yet be formed into works of art, painted and
enamelled tables, antique candelabra, models of busts, statuettes,
classic temples, and everything which can be shaped in a mould.
An earlier and more important use of Paper is in the decoration of
dwellings. Formerly, the apartments of persons of opulence were hung
with tapestry, generally brought from the Continental loom. But its
cost, its loss of colour by time; and the rise of commercial and
industrial opulence, displaced this elaborate and heavy decoration,
and substituted “_paper hangings_.” The first specimens of those
exhibited nothing but the rudeness of an art in its infancy, and
were almost wholly foreign; but the capability of the invention was
large, and it had the advantage of converting the humble covering
of walls into copies of the pencil, on a new and extended scale.
The Continental specimens of this manufacture already display
representations of leading national events, memorable battles, and
even portraits of eminent men, forming, for even the humbler ranks, a
kind of historic galleries.
The English manufacturer excels in the proportions of his paper,
(English, 12 yards long, by 21 inches wide; French, 9 yards, by 18
inches). But, the art is still difficult and costly; the blocks for a
single pattern sometimes amounting to thousands. One of the principal
French manufacturers is, at present, producing a design, requiring
upwards of three thousand blocks, at a cost of £2000., the design
alone costing £1200.
But, time and practice will lighten both the difficulty and the
expense. The manufacture may yet spread through every mart in the
world. In its more advanced stage, it may supply the place of FRESCO,
or rather be a multiplied Fresco.
The Cartoons of Raphael, the noblest work of design, are upon paper;
the finest Italian pictures might be copied upon paper; and the tardy
and toilsome work of the Engraver might be exchanged for the rapid,
cheap, and popular design, no longer limited to the palace or the
cloister, but sent, in thousands of copies, round the globe. Nor let
this be called Utopian; what can be Utopian, in the country of the
Railroad, the Steam-ship, and the Electric Telegraph!
The art wants only public encouragement. Let the encouragement be
given, and the talent will be found. Let Government offer a premium
of even a thousand pounds for the best specimen. Let the Society of
Arts make it one of the objects of their patronage; let it be once
favoured, and it will soon advance to excellence.
Nor let any one scoff at the interest, which I venture to express in
the ornament even of a cottage wall. Ornament is the crown of art.
Taste is thought. Elegance is the refinement of civilization. The
study of beauty, grandeur, and truth, in History and in Nature, is
the most practical education of man! Who shall say, that the sight
of some heroic action—some noble figure of history—some sublime
exercise of talent, magnanimity, or patriotism, pictured on a cottage
wall,—may not be like a flash through the darkness of the peasant
heart; may not suddenly awake the latent energy of the unconscious
poet, the patriot, and the hero; may not give to the world a
Shakspeare, a Wallace, or a Wellington!
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manufactured expressly for the purpose.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added,
when a predominant preference was found in the original book.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg 35: ‘Shakespeare’ replaced by ‘Shakspeare’ for consistency.
Pg 35: ‘Lord Say’ replaced by ‘Lord Saye’ for consistency.
Pg 36: ‘first Lord Say’ replaced by ‘first Lord Saye’.
Pg 42: ‘I have no no reason to’ replaced by ‘I have no reason to’.
Pg 47: ‘so bitter a a reverse’ replaced by ‘so bitter a reverse’.
Pg 59: ‘an alkaline ley’ replaced by ‘an alkaline lye’.
Pg 77: ‘or ratherb earing’ replaced by ‘or rather bearing’.
Pg 77: ‘until th emovement’ replaced by ‘until the movement’.
Pg 86: ‘indeterm ining the’ replaced by ‘in determining the’.
Pg 116: ‘Shakespeare’ replaced by ‘Shakspeare’ for consistency.
The number ‘1’ was missing and has been inserted as a caption on
the first ‘Specimen’ illustration at the back of the book.
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