No 62, April 2007

The Quarterly No 62, April 2007

An Illusive Image: Some Thoughts About Watermarking Handmade Papers - Simon Barcham Green

"What do you mean you can't use the drawing as a watermark?" a Canadian designer once complained to the author. "All I want are a few basic lines." Well it's not that easy," he explained. "The problem is ..." An article on the trials and tribulations of designing and using watermarks reprinted from Fine Print, The Review for the Arts of the Book, 1986.

9 pages, illustrated

Paper Barrels

A small article from a supplement to The Paper Trade Review, 1889, showing one of the multitude of uses to which paper was being put prior to the invention of synthetic polymers.

1 page

Böckler's Paper Mill - Alan Crocker

An investigation of the engravings used by German born architect, engineer and author Georg Andreæ Böckler in his seventeenth century publications to illustrate paper mills.

3 pages, illustrated

Belgium Conference 2002

Technological Improvements of the Belgian Industry due to Import Tax Legislation. The Examples of Paper Mills and British (and French) Technology 1834-1851 - Harry van Royen

The effects of changes in Belgian Import Taxes on the import of paper making machinery. Due to these changes entrepreneurs could reclaim taxes on imported new machinery not available in the home market.

4 pages

Artefacts from St Cuthbert's Mill - Brian Luker

Paper has been made at this site at Haybridge near Wells, Somerset, since 1738 at least. The mill has been called Kingstons, Lower Wookey, Mendip and, since 1886, St Cuthbert's. Early in 2006 Inveresk plc, then owners of the mill, deposited their surviving records at Somerset Record Office. They have since given two artefacts, a hand mould and a dandy roll, to the County Museum; these are described in the article.

2 pages, illustrated

History of Paper Test Instrumentation Part 5: Colour & Brightness Testers - Daven Chamberlain

So far this series has described instruments used to assess a range of mainly physical properties that have a bearing on the functional performance of the sheet. However, none of the properties, with the exception of gloss, have much of an effect on the appearance properties of a sheet. It is here that this new range of test instruments plays a role.

11 pages, illustrated

Pulp for Paper Beer-Mug Mats

This short piece is reprinted from The Paper-Maker and British Paper Trade Journal, 1912. It describes the technicalities behind production of a seemingly trivial item, and shows how the desired properties of the finished article are engineered during the manufacturing process.

1 page

The Story of Cross & Bevan: Part 1 - The Partners - Trevor Dean

A short history of the partnership responsible for the discovery of Viscose. The author attempts to put the invention into perspective with other artificial fibres as well as identify some other achievements of Cross & Bevan which have been overshadowed by viscose.

6 pages, illustrated

Wage Rise Negotiations at Turkey Mill - Michael Fuller

Transcription of nine letters written in 1902 charting the progress of the papermakers' request for a wage increase of 3d per day. The contents cast a fascinating light on the world of industrial negotiations and relationships as they existed at Turkey Mill in the early twentieth century.

4 pages

The Benefit that Paper Brings - An Elizabethan Poem - Thomas Churchyard

The mill that is the main subject of this poem is that of Spilman, sited at Dartford. The various processes required to make paper are lovingly rendered in verse, as are its benefits, many of which are (as would be expected, exaggerated, but poetically. 

4 pages

Incombustible Paper - James Scott  

James Scott seemed to delight in finding unusual uses for which paper could be used. The following text, reprinted from The Paper-Maker and British Paper Trade Journal, 1914, contains several suggestions for which fire-retardant tissue could be used, were such a grade manufactured. Includes accounts of his tests.

2 pages, illustrated

Restrictions on Rag Importation and use due to Cholera

Rags were not the safest and most hygienic of raw materials, and over the centuries several outbreaks of disease have been attributed to them. This series of unconnected but related articles were culled from several issues of The Paper-Maker and British Paper Trade Journal, 1892-1894.

2 pages, illustrated

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Last modified: October 25, 2008