News 35, Summer 1999

The Museum of Scotland in Chamber Street, Edinburgh, has been extended. The papermaking display has been retrieved from a storeroom and given pride of place in the section on Scotland's industry. The main exhibit is a quarter scale Fourdrinier papermaking machine made by George Bertram of Edinburgh in 1860. It consists of two stock chests with paddle agitators, a riffler (sand trap), a flat slotted screen, wet end with a phosphor bronze wire, table rolls, deckle straps and vacuum boxes, a felted couch roll, forward and reverse press, five drying cylinders, breaker stack, three calendar stacks and a centre wound reel. The whole machine is belt driven. Other parts of the display include a model beater and guillotine, hand moulds and a full-size dandy roll from Cowans mill at Valleyfield, Penicuik. This is alongside a display on Edinburgh's printing industry.
Noted from Paper Technology, May 1999, By Phil Crockett.

One View of Paper

A survey carried out by the Daily Telegraph on the Internet among leading scientists and mathematicians as to what they believed to be the most significant developments of the last two millenia. One participant considered the early paper made in China to be of most significance and the progenitor of the Internet. He considered both paper and the Internet break barriers of time and distance, and permit unprecedented growth and opportunity. Full quote.
Noted by Phil Crockett.

INFORMATION SOUGHT

The objectives of the BAPH include acting as a forum for exchange of information and ideas as well as disseminating material relevant to paper history. To fulfill these objectives, requests for information will be published in the NEWS on the understanding that enquirers will share the results. Please inform the editor of the NEWS of any information so acquired for publication.

Information needed by Mr Woodman about W.J. Dowding & Son of CHAPPS MILL, Slaughterford, Wiltshire, or about the mill itself. A note of the location of photographs, sketches or any archive material would be appreciated. Mr Woodman's father was Manager at this mill from 1916 until 1966. The mill ceased production about 10 or 12 years ago and is about to be demolished and replaced with new houses. A parallel interest is in any paper mills in the same BYBROOK VALLEY. Michael Woodman.

Has anyone any pictures, records or information on the firm REEDS at TOVILL MILL, Kent?. Pam Highams is appealing for material, or the location of material, for the local branch of Kent Family History Society that is mounting an exhibition as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations. She will be grateful for any help. Pam Highams.

John HOLL, born and apprenticed in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, became a stationer. With his brother, Thomas, took over HURCOTT Mill in Worcestershire in 1790, advertised for a manager/papermaker with experience of making good quality paper, but was bankrupt in 1793. Any information on his apprenticeship, appearance at other papermills or on his connection would be appreciated by Rosemary Dean.

Publications

Le Papier: 2000 ans d'histoire et de savoir-faire by Lucien X. Polastron, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale.
A world history of paper that brings a new perspective to 2000 years of making this material, from the first made in China to the present day. It is also a practical book which allows us to discover and understand the difference between various sorts of paper, and to learn to use them.
Jacket of straw paper, 224 pp, 193 colour photographs, 1 map, 24.5 x 32cm. Price 390Fr. + p&p: 50 Fr. metropolitan France; 80Fr. elsewhere; overseas rates not supplied.
Available from Comptoir des Ecritures, 35 rue Quincampoix, F-75004, Paris, France.

Turner's Later Papers: A Study of the Manufacture, Selection and Use of His Drawing Papers 1820-1851 by Peter Bower, Forensic Paper Historian and Paper Analyst. An in depth study, charting the relationship between Turner's innovative techniques and the grounds he worked on. It documents his responses to the great changes and increasing sophistication in the design and production of artist's papers. A companion volume to Turner's Paper's: A Study of the Manufacture, Selection & Use of His Drawing Papers 1787-1820 (Pub. 1990).
Pub. 1999, Tate Gallery Publishing Ltd., Millbank, London SW1P 4RG; Tel: 0171.887.8869; fax: 0171.887.8878; e-mail: tgpl@tate.org.uk; website: www.tate.org.uk
Paperback; pp136, (270mm x 210mm); 26 colour, 200 b/w illust.. Price: ?25 + p&p (UK - ?2.50), (Overseas - ?3.50)

The Whatmans and Wove (Velin) Paper by John Balston. A4 format. 400pp, 38 illus. of which 9 colour, 17 figures. 19 tables, 2 maps. Limited edition.
?60 + p&p: UK ?5.50; Europe ?6.60: USA ?15.00; Far East ?18.00. Sterling cheques payable to J N Balston. Order with payment please to Mrs A Brunger, External Relations Executive, Whatman plc, Whatman House, St. Leonard's Road, 20/20 Maidstone, Kent ME16 0LS, UK.

Mr Balston's deep and challenging research over twenty years reveals the elder Whatman's two-pronged approach to resolving the problems in developing wove paper, and such paper of exceptional quality. Related subjects are also explored, such as the use of alum and Baskerville's glazing process.
Mr. Balston is the author of The Elder James Whatman: Englands Greatest Paper Maker (1702-1759), published 1992, and a member of BAPH.

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Last modified: May 07, 2009