The Quarterly No. 9 – January 1994
Some Notes on Derbyshire Paper Mills, part 1 – Tanya Schmoller
Notes on some Derbyshire mills, their occupants and paper industry workers taken from various sources including trade directories, census returns, newspapers and other documents. Information mainly on the following mills:- Alport Mill, Hayfield Mill, Masson Mill, Hall Dale Mill, White Hall Mill and Peckwash Mill, but also references to other mills.
4 pages
Miscellany: Trade Card of William Fitch, c1850-60 – Peter Bower
Description and illustration of a trade card with 20 coloured paper oval samples from this London papermaker.
1 page, illustrated
Light and Dark Watermarks, part 1 – Richard Hills
As papermaking spread across the rest of northern Europe from Italy, the art of watermarking went with it. it is through watermarks that we are able to learn a great deal about the history of papermaking. We are also able to learn something about the techniques being used and it is this aspect the author examines by looking at paper which has survived principally in England to see how the art of
watermarking has developed over the centuries.
5 pages, illustrated
British Paper Mills: Tuckenhay, Devon – Peter Bower
Brief history of this mill and its occupants from about 1829 to its closure in 1970. There was also a second mill operating at Tuckenhay from 1832-1860, however, it is the longer operating mill which the article concentrates on. Tuckenhay was the last vat mill, designed to be used solely for hand
papermaking, to be established in South West England.
2 pages, illustrated
Christmas at Matthias Koops Mill, 1802 – Richard Hills
Letters from the Matthias Koops Archives at the Dard Hunter Museum, the letters are all written in December 1802, From their content it is assumed that the mill had gone bankrupt in November, with the consequent dismissal of the workforce, as the correspondence centres on the dispute over payment for the Christmas period.
1 page
Book Reviews
A Paper Journey: Travels among the Village Papermakers of India and Nepal. Nigel Macfarlane.
Products of Papermaking: Transactions of the Tenth Fundamental Research Symposium held at Oxford, September 1993. Edited by CF Baker.
Letters
Responses and additional information to The Panhouse Disaster in The Quarterly No 8 and James Watt and Papermaking in The Quarterly No 7. Reference is also made to "The Experienced Millwright" by Andrew Gray, Edinburgh, 1804.
2 pages, illustrated
The Quarterly No. 10 – March 1994
Some Notes on Derbyshire Paper Mills, part 2 – Tanya Schmoller
The second and final part of this article, this part concentrating on the mills of Darley Abbey, Turn Lee, Dover and Charleston (the last three near Glossop), but other mills are also mentioned. Details of the mills construction and layout are given along with details of the occupants and some of the paper workers.
5 pages, illustrated
Miscellany
Recycling in Tibet – Richard Busby
A short piece written in 1818 about the recycling of paper in Tibet.
Paper Mills and Pollution – Tanya Schmoller
An extract from Roderick Grant's The Great Canal, 1978, detailing benefits of paper made with polluted water.
1 page
Light and Shade Watermarks, part 2 – Richard Hills
The second part of this comprehensive article on the development of watermarks. This part details the development of watermarks in wove paper and on paper machines.
5 pages, illustrated
British Paper Mills: Beltonford Paper Mill and the Annandale Family – Ally
Knox
The history of this mill from its construction in 1863 until its untimely demise by fire in 1892. Many details are given of the building works, both of the mill and the connected buildings, and of the Annandale family who also owned the Polton Paper Mill. The mill never operated again as a paper mill after the fire, but the remaining buildings were used as a maltings until again destroyed by fire in the 1970's.
4 pages, illustrated
Letters
Details of a mould acquired by The Barcham Green historical collection and a further letter with more information on The Experienced Millwright by Andrew Gray, Edinburgh, 1804.
Book Reviews
Studies on the History of Papermaking in Britian by Alfred H Shorter. Edited by Richard L Hills.
The Paper Conservator Volume 17. Edited by Nancy Bell and Katherine Swift.
Mill on the Don. John Fedo.
The Quarterly No. 11 – July 1994
British Paper Mills: Otham Mill, Kent – Michael Fuller
A description of the layout of this mill, on the river Len, at Bearsted, to the east of Maidstone, based on information gathered in a series of visits by Bob Spain, Alf Spain and the author. A detailed description is given of the positioning of the machinery within the mill site. A brief history of the period of operation from about 1700 to about 1860 is given as an introduction.
5 pages, illustrated
British Bibliography of Paper History and Watermark Studies No 1, 1993 – Peter
Bower
A listing of publications and articles relating to paper history and allied topics published in 1993.
2 pages
Rags as Raw Materials for Papermaking, part 3: Some Comments on Rag Processing at Croxley Mill – Barry Watson
The article is based on notes written by the author in 1948 at the request of the mill manager, after he had spent several weeks working and observing in the rag processing departments of Croxley Mill, Hertfordshire. Detailed accounts of the various processes involved are given as well as general observations on conditions in the mill. An additional section on synthetic fibres, summarised from an
article in an American papermaking journal, is given at the end.
3 pages, illustrated
O.S.P. – An Enigma? – Jean Stirk
The history of the Original Society of Papermakers, a trade union set up exclusively for the journeymen and apprentices of the hand-made paper trade. The union is believed to have been formed in 1800, closing in 1948, in preference to amalgamation, when it became no longer viable.
3 pages, illustrated
Book Review
Slownik papierniczy Angielsko-Polski: A New Polish Dictionary of Papermaking Terms. Dr. Jozef Robowski.
The Quarterly No. 12 – September 1994
John Gamble and the St. Neots Paper Mill – Norman Cowell
A comparison between
the history of John Gamble's connection with the St. Neots paper mill as revealed by the archive at St. Ives, with the later part of the account which he himself wrote and published. Substantial differences show up and it is, perhaps, not overstating to say that Gamble presents himself in a light which is not totally justified by the facts. With details of Gamble's association with the Fourdriniers and his relationship with Matthew Towgood.
7 pages, tables, illustrated
Archives of Paper History, part 3: Wycombe Marsh Paper Mills Ltd. – Peter Bower
Details of the archive items collected from this company in 1993 prior to its closure. Period covered is from 1915 to 1990.
2 pages, table, illustrated
Walter Woodbury and the Photo-Filigrane Process – Peter Bower
Walter Woodbury (1834-1885), inventor of the Woodburytype process of photographic engraving, also developed a variation of his process adapted to create watermarks in already made paper. Such processes were developed for small order clients whose requirements made the cost of a new dandy
roll impractical for such short runs.
3 pages, illustrated
The Quarterly No. 12 Supplement – September 1994
West Country Paper Mills
A supplement produced to coincide with the BAPH Conference at Exeter, devoted to six West Country paper makers all making paper by hand today.
Papermaking has a long history in the the three counties, Devon, Somerset and Gloucestershire, represented here. All three counties have flourishing machine-made paper mills but the makers listed in this supplement are all, in their various ways, part of a longer tradition of of handmade papermaking. Some of the techniques they use and some of the science might not be recognisable to an 18th or 19th century papermaker but they would recognise the striving for excellence and the making of such good papers.
The six mills covered are:-
- Bingham & Company, Ruscombe Paper Mill, Kingscourt Yard, Bowl Hill, Stroud, Gloucestershire.
- Griffen Mill, The Old Mill, Croscombe, nr Wells, Somerset.
- Sheepstor Handmade Papers, Covert House, Yelverton, Devon.
- Gillian Spires, 4 Fore Street, Ugborough, Ivybridge, Devon.
- The Two Rivers Paper Co., Pitt Mill, Roadwater, Watchet, Somerset.
- Wookey Hole Papermill, (Wookey Hole caves Ltd.), Wookey Hole, nr Wells, Somerset.
Each gives details of the papers they produce and some idea of the processes involved. Tipped in paper samples are provided for some of the papers from each of the mills.
12 pages, illustrated, map, tipped in paper samples